On Friday 27th February, Minister for Families and Children, Jenny Mikakos, chaired the first meeting of the Ministerial Advisory Committee for Children in Out-of-Home Care.
Its first task is to recommend strategies on how to recruit more foster carers and retain those already supporting children who have experienced abuse and neglect.
On Friday 12th December, the Centre for Excellence in Child & Family Welfare attended a meeting with the Commissioner for Children and Young People, FCAV and Medibank Health Solutions in relation to "Improving the Health of Vulnerable Children".
Following the meeting Medibank has confirmed that it has the following policy in relation to children in kinship and guardianship arrangements (not fostercare):
"The types of orders we will accept for adding a child under a guardianship arrangement are:
The Financial support guide for home-based carers which outlines the range of financial supports available to assist carers in meeting the needs of the children and young people in foster care, kinship care, permanent care and special needs local adoption placements was released earlier this week.
You can find the guide at www.dhs.vic.gov.au/carersupport.
