State Government Announces Director Of Foster Care Relations

The Director of the Office for Women, Carmel O'Loughlin, is to be appointed South Australia's first Director of Foster Carer Relations, Families and Communities Minister, Jay Weatherill, said today.

"I am delighted that Carmel has agreed to take up this crucial appointment which is integral to the reform and refocus of South Australia's child protection system," Mr Weatherill said.

"We currently have more than 890 foster and relative carers in South Australia who are registered under the Family and Community Act 1972 and who provide critical care and support to about 1900 children and young people.

"Carmel has spent the past decade as head of the Office of Women and has had an active involve in women's politics for more than 25 years both at the forefront of public policy formulation and as an agent for change.

"As part of our reform of the State's child protection system, and in keeping with recommendations made in the landmark Layton Review of that system, Carmel will become an advocate for foster carers and a critical link between Children, Youth and Family Services (formerly FAYS) and foster carers."

Mr Weatherill said one of the findings of the Layton Review was a lack of recognition of the value of the potential contribution by foster carers to child protection in South Australia.

"Together with Children, Youth and Family Services, foster carers are part of the team of child protection and are a significant resource for information relating to a child's current and future well being," Mr Weatherill said.

"We need to draw on their knowledge more than we do currently, to assist discussions and decision-making about the best care options for children.

"Foster carers play a unique and critical role in giving homes and care to children who are particularly vulnerable. This can be a short-term placement for a child or children with particular needs, or providing a family home over many years as a child or young person grows and develops."

The role of a Foster Care Relations Director will involve:
influencing systems and cultural change necessary to improve and strengthen relationships between foster carers, government and non-government sectors
informing policy as a means to ensuring improved training, support and funding of foster carers to promote quality care of children and young people
forging and strengthening links between the Commonwealth, State and local governments to enhance the value and recognition of SA's foster carers
representing foster carers in promoting the worth and recognition of the foster carer role in the general community
providing executive advice to the Minister, Chief Executive of the Dept of Families and Communities and Child, Youth and Family Services (formerly FAYS) with regard to better supporting the role of foster carers in the alternative care system
Carmel O'Loughlin

Carmel O'Loughlin is currently the Director of the Office for Women which is responsible for policy, the Women's Information Service and the Premier's Council for Women.

In the early 1980s she helped to establish, and then managed, the Women's Information Switchboard before moving on to run the State's first Domestic Violence Prevention Unit.

Carmel has acted as a consultant to the Queensland Government in the early 1990s and to the Northern Territory, where she was director of the Office of Women's Affairs.

She has held many board appointments including chair of the Don Dunstan Foundation Board of Management and she was a councillor of the Institute of Public Administration.

Carmel chaired the Review of Early Childhood Services and was a vice-president of ACOSS and a member of the Family Law Council.

In the mid-1970s Carmel was foster parent to two newly arrived Vietnamese refugee children.