Queensland Bills Explanatory Notes Queensland Bills Explanatory Notes[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]
CHILD PROTECTION (RECOGNITION
OF RELATIVE CARERS) AMENDMENT
BILL 2005
EXPLANATORY NOTES
GENERAL OUTLINE
Objectives of the legislation
This Bill is intended to amend the principal Act so as to extend the eligibility to receive
carers' allowances, presently received by licensed care services and foster carers, to a
new class of relative carers who are acting as the carers of children closely related to
them, without forcing those persons to apply for formal approval as foster carers.
Reasons for the Bill, and how achieved
Under the principal Act at present, the chief executive of the Child Protection Department
``may pay the allowance prescribed under a regulation to a child's carer for the child's care
and maintenance''. The ``carer'' of a child is defined for the purposes of the Act to mean
``the person in whose care the child has been placed by the chief executive''. Though the
definition goes on to include an approved foster carer, it is, overall, an exhaustive definition
(it begins by saying ``carer'' means...) and therefore does not include many people who
happen through circumstances to be acting as a child's primary carer, in the ordinary sense
of the word, without approval by the Department.
In particular, the present s 159 does not include the many grandparents, uncles and/or aunts,
and older siblings who, after a child's parents have died or become incapable of caring for
the child, voluntarily become the primary carer of the child. Many of them suffer financial
hardship because of the duties they have taken on. Yet, unless they apply under the Act to
be approved as foster carers they are not eligible for the allowances under section 159. For
reasons discussed in the second-reading speech, it is inappropriate that they should have to
seek approval as foster carers in the same way as unrelated persons; indeed some relatives
acting as carers have been dissuaded by officers of the Department from so applying.
It is therefore proposed to amend the Act so that persons in the above closely-related
categories can simply apply for recognition of the already-existing facts that they are the
primary carer of a child, and that once recognition is granted they will be eligible for the
grants under s 159.
Administrative cost to government of implementation
If the Bill is enacted the government will have to pay allowances under s 159 to some further
number of people. Section 159 already provides that its general provision for the payment of
allowances is subject to appropriation of an amount for the purpose of the section. Thus the
extra expenditure, should the Bill be enacted, will be under annual review by the Parliament.
Consistency with fundamental legislative principles
The Bill is not inconsistent with fundamental legislative principles.
CONSULTATION
The promoter of the Bill has consulted with grandparent carers in Queensland, New South
Wales and New Zealand.
NOTES ON PROVISIONS
Clauses 1-3 are the usual short title, commencement and "principal Act" provisions.
Clause 4 amends the principal Act to insert a new s 148A, which will constitute the whole of
a new Chapter 4A. Chapter 4 deals with the "regulation of care" ie, in the words of the
heading to Part 2 of the Chapter, with the licensing of care services and approval of foster
carers by the Department. It is therefore appropriate that a mere recognition of care that is
already being provided by force of circumstances should be in a different chapter.
Sub-clauses 1 and 2 provide for the recognition referred to. It provides that a grandparent,
uncle or aunt, or sibling of a child can apply for recognition and that recognition will be
granted where the applicant is a primary carer of the child. This will not apply to situations
where the relatives simply provide "relief care" for the child while, for example, a parent is
working, but to situations where the relative has taken on primary care responsibilities in lieu
of the parents. It is considered that in most situations one person can be identified as the
primary carer. However, where two persons say, both grandparents or an uncle and aunt
are sharing the caring equally they will both be eligible to be recognised under the section
but it is anticipated that, as with foster parents, the regulations will provide for one payment
to be made to them.
Sub-clause (3) is intended to make it absolutely clear that the present situation, under which
children often end up in the care of relatives and no intervention by the Department or
formal orders are necessary, continues. That is, the provision for a grant of recognition is
simply for one purpose to make the carer eligible for the allowances paid under s 159.
There is no proposed requirement in new s 148A that applicants should have to undergo
criminal record checks, domestic violence checks, etc, as it is argued that these people are
just as much "natural family" as the parents are. The provisions of Part 1 (children at risk of
harm) of course apply, and will continue to apply, to children in the care of relative carers
just as they apply to children in any situation .
Clause 5 amends s 159 payments for care and maintenance to extend eligibility from
those currently, and artificially, defined as "carers" to include the relative carers recognised
under the new s 148A. The exact amount of the allowances paid under the section is
determined by regulation, and that regulation will now apply to relative carers as well as to
foster carers and licensed carers.