My name is Joyce, I live in WA, and I am the grandparent carer for three of my grandchildren.  I have been doing this for 14 years, so one is now living away from home and supporting herself. She was 4 when she came to me. I have them because their parents suffer drug addiction/mental health problems and incarceration.

I gave up an excellent job in order to care for these children, a job that was supposed to be the icing on my cake. Instead I have used up all of my savings and superannuation and they are not full grown yet. I was on a sole parent pension, I’m better off now, ha! ha!, at 68 I have now an aged pensioner.

 I have worked with a (free) Financial Advisor and the budget that he prepared for me clearly indicates that I simply do not have enough money to make ends meet.  There is not enough money to replace anything, e.g. car; fridge; washing machine, etc. and certainly not enough for a break/respite.

I did try, twice, to get part time work over the years, only to find that the physical and mental stress of raising traumatised children with their own mental health issues, and within the context of a dysfunctional family was just overwhelming and I was guttered to find I could not cope.

 I am not alone, there are other grandparents in the same boat. However, there are some grandparents who were approached by The Department for Child Protection to become Foster Carers and then foster their grandchildren. Their job is the same as mine/ours, just as demanding, but the remuneration is considerably different. So, while I rotate my 101 recipes for sausages and mince meat, get baked beans with gratitude from the Salvos, the foster carer grandparents are planning their annual holiday, or off to buy a bigger flat screen. My rough estimate is that I have saved the WA Government over $300,000 over 14 years in Foster carer payments.

The government knows we exist. Three years ago we were recognised with an annual payment of $400 for the first child and $250 for each of the next, until the child is sixteen. My 16 year old works part time in order to be on a par with her peers, and goes to school.

What we want is financial equity with Foster carers. If NSW can do it, why not WA? Are my grandchildren not worth the same as foster children?

Please sign my petition so we can put more pressure on WA government to make this happen.