National Foster and Kinship Care Collective (NFKCC)

1 June 2024

The National Foster and Kinship Care Collective (NFKCC) is a voluntary cooperative of state and territory foster and kinship care associations, representing the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia

Our mission is to advocate for the rights, needs and wellbeing of volunteer foster and kinship carers to ensure we recruit, train, retain and support them for the good of our community and to ensure their voices are heard and their rights upheld.

Click here to find out more

As the National Foster and Kinship Care Collective, we have 7 key action areas to focus on over the next five years to improve our sector:

  1. Raising the Status of Australian Foster & Kinship Carers
  2. Appropriate Compensation for Australian Foster & Kinship Carers
  3. Wellbeing for Australian Foster & Kinship Carers
  4. Respite Access for Australian Foster & Kinship Carers
  5. Cultural Connectivity Opportunities
  6. High Quality, Consistent, Trauma-Informed Training for all Child Protection Stakeholders
  7. Disability Access and Support
  8. Legal Access for Carers (NEW – June 2024)
  9. Navigating the Education System (NEW – June 2024)

 

Update – 14th November 2024

On behalf of the National Foster & Kinship Care Collective, a panel of CEOs from the State Peaks presented at last week’s THRIVE 2024 National Summit, discussing the group’s purpose, jurisdiction-based & collective wins and the shared national challenges for our carers across Australia
We share this photo of Allianz Stadium (Sydney) with a seating capacity of 45000. If the number of vulnerable children in the Australian government care system were all in one place, they would fill every seat in this stadium 😔
The National Collective will continue to strongly advocate for system reform at both a national and state level, for the best possible outcomes for Carers and the children and young people in their families
• Connecting Foster & Kinship Carers SA (CEO: Fiona Endacott)
• Foster Care Association of Victoria (CEO: Samantha Hauge)
• Queensland Foster and Kinship Care (CEO: Bryan Smith)
• My Forever Family NSW (Adopt Change, CEO: Renée Leigh Carter)

 

Update – 28th June 2024

The National Foster & Kinship Care Collective (NFKCC) met in Sydney today, to discuss issues impacting family-based carers at a Federal level. The collective discussed their strategic plan for advocacy moving forward at a Federal level to ensure it aligns with the issues that matter most to foster & kinship carers, including the topic of superannuation entitlements (as part of key action item No. 2 listed above “appropriate compensation for Australian Foster & Kinship Carers”)

 

Additional strategic items were also added pertaining to legal access for carers and navigating the education system. A further update will be provided as information comes to hand.