Media Release:  28 April 2017

Murchison Legislative Councilor Ruth Forrest says the Government needs to act to fix laws so that foster parents don’t miss out on compensation if they are injured whilst undertaking their role.

Workers compensation law already provides cover for volunteers who are helping the government deliver services. But foster parent volunteers are not on the list yet.

“Foster parents make an invaluable and selfless contribution to the community.  They do this as volunteers out of the goodness of their hearts and for the benefit of vulnerable children” Ms Forrest said.

“We are in desperate need of more foster parents and we need to be doing everything we can to support them and ensure we value their important role, providing foster parents with the same protection as other volunteer workers” Ms Forrest said.

 “Foster parents work with families and kids in trouble.  Sometimes they can be injured as a result of this work and should be eligible for assistance if that happens to them.” 

Ms Forrest is calling on the Government to amend the relevant regulations to address this inequity.

“All this requires is a simple amendment to the current law.  The legal framework is already in place. The only change required is a simple regulation to say volunteer foster parents are to be treated as workers under our law” Ms Forrest stated.

 “The least we can do is make sure they get workers compensation when injured while caring for Tasmania’s vulnerable children.”