Children placed in Permanent Care have often experienced trauma, loss and instability.

Permanent carers step in and take full legal parental responsibility — just like adoptive or biological parents. They attend medical appointments, coordinate therapies, support attachment, and commit to raising these children.

Yet in Australia, permanent carers are excluded from government-funded paid parental leave.

Biological parents qualify.
Adoptive parents qualify.
Permanent carers — who assume the same lifelong parenting role — do not.

This gap puts financial pressure on families at the exact time children need stability, consistency and secure attachment.

Government-funded paid parental leave is not just a workplace benefit — it is critical support that allows carers to focus on helping vulnerable children settle, heal and thrive.

Australia must update its parental leave policy to recognise Permanent Care as a qualifying arrangement.

Children in permanent care deserve the same support as every other child entering a permanent family.

Sign this petition to call on the Australian Government to extend government-funded paid parental leave to permanent carers.