Kinship and Foster Care in the midst of COVID-19

The perspective of carers

Abstract

This paper reports the experiences of kinship and foster carers who were caring for children during COVID-19 lockdowns in the state of Victoria, Australia. Semi-structured interviews with nine foster and kinship carers found that for some children in care, COVID-19 was another experience of trauma. The pandemic amplified carers’ existing concerns including stressful relationships with birth parents and social workers, the potentially fragile nature of arrangements involving elderly carers and a lack of formal policy and practice to ensure children in care do not experience digital poverty. These concerns remain salient in a post-pandemic world and out of home care systems need to address these if they are to provide high quality foster care and kinship care placements to vulnerable children. This includes ensuring organisations have protocols and procedures which treat carers with the respect of a co-worker and do not leave carers feeling financially exploited. Contingency plans for the care of children whose carers are elderly or have health issues must also be put in place.