Ms Aileen Malone:

It is difficult because I like to look at faces. Kinship care is often such an informal relationship and arrangement that it is difficult to actually quantify, so I will speak from my personal experience. My husband and I were kinship carers for our grandson and we looked after him for about 19 or 20 years. It was only in the last few years that it was officially recognised and that we actually got supports. Speaking from my experience of family support groups, I know quite a few kinship carers.

If I think of 30 people I have known, approximately five of those - one sixth of that group - were actively kinship caring. Usually, they are caring for grandchildren, but it can often be an aunt or an uncle caring for nieces or nephews as well. Does that answer the Senator’s question?