Supporting Carers to Support the Children in Their Care

High quality, healthy and happy carers lead to better mental health outcomes for children in out of home care but what support do we give carers to undertake their role and is there more we could be doing? 

There is no doubting there is a persistently growing population of children in out of home care. The community relies on carers – whether they be foster carers or kinship carers – to provide a safe, stable, supportive home for them. It almost goes without saying that having high quality carers who are happy and healthy will lead to better mental health outcomes for the children who are in their care, but research would suggest that the carer role itself brings with it a whole host of issues that detract from carer wellbeing, and this is likely to have implications for the children in their care. Moreover, as a community, we aren’t particularly good at supporting carers to undertake their role. In this episode we are fortunate to speak with Dr Josh Fergeus, who has undertaken a load of research in this area and whilst he doesn’t have all the answers – no one ever does – he knows better than most people what it takes to create a safe, stable and happy home for a child in out of home care.

Sources:

Dr. Josh Fergeus

https://www.joshfergeus.com.au/#overview

Charter for Children in Out of Home Care

https://services.dffh.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2017-05/Charter-for-children-in-out-of-home.pdf

Kevin Heinz Grow 

https://kevinheinzegrow.org.au

Best Interests Children’s Law Podcast is sponsored by Ex Curia: Coaching & Consulting Pty Ltd, Meliora Psychology and Claudia Grimberg Lawyers.

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