The Care Allowance Campaign is officially one year old. In the year, the real value of the Care Allowance has dipped even further as the cost of living rises without adequate indexation to match.
The Petition to Increase the Care Allowance continues and we continue to lose carers from the system in Victoria at an alarming rate. The FCAV’s latest Snapshot shows a loss of nearly 100 foster care households from the system in the period. This backs up the most recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: https://www.fcav.org.au/news/victorian-carer-households https://www.fcav.org.au/news/petition-to-increase-the-care-allowance?

With current attrition rates the Victorian Government stands to spend millions more in inadequate and unsafe contingency care and children as young as 7 being placed in residential care.
The system is at breaking point and the Care Allowance is an intrinsic factor in its sustainability.
We call on Minister for Child Protection and Carers, Lizzie Blandthorn to advocate with Treasury Tim Pallas and the Premier Jacinta Allan to recognise that this is not just a cost efficiency issue to be proved in economic modelling but a human rights issue for our most vulnerable children and young people and the carers whose goodwill and big hearts are being exploited by it.
We thank the sector organisations, carers, ACCOs, leaders and young care leavers who are joining the campaign and saying, Enough.