Ms Catherine Bond:

It is part of our submission to the Department. The review of the Child Care Act is looking at the concept of permanency for children in foster care. There are many children who spend many years with foster families who may not require the same high level of social work support, and subsequently the family could be allowed more autonomy. The concept of enhanced rights for foster carers allows that they can give consent in certain areas in the child's life if the child has been with that foster carer for more than five years. The foster parent in that instance would not be required to contact a social worker if a child is to go on a school trip, for example. At the moment, a social worker has to give consent to that, meaning that he or she has to go to the house to give consent or the foster carer has to go to the Department to get consent. Those are regular, normal, nice things for children, and the last thing anyone wants is for a child in care not to be able to go on a school trip because nobody was available to give the consent. The area of enhanced rights for foster carers has to be looked at so that consent can be offered for certain areas of the child's life. This proposal formed part of our submission to the Department.