Call 0499 969 234
between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday
KCV has contact with approximately 500 individual carers each year. The contact is made via phone, email or by face-to-face consultations. Sometimes, there is an ongoing exchange with a carers using all these forms of communications.
Cares are welcome to ask specific questions or to call for a friendly chat and encouragement when they could do with a friendly ear.
All information arising from the calls to protect by privacy regulations and is not shared. However, each person’s story contributes to the overall picture of what carers are struggling with and the ways in which kinship carers in general need support.
KCV initiates calls back to carers who are believed to be vulnerable, sometimes from a sense of isolation, for a wellbeing check. Most carers travel past the spot of bother they are encountering at the time they first contact KCV. However, a reassuring chat never goes astray.
In 2023, the effects of Covid were still evident, as can be seen in the chart below which indicates the balances of issues raised by those who call the KCV support and advice line is outlined below. The balances between issues for 2024 with be published in June 2024.
THE ISSUES BY PERCENTAGE OF CONTACTS % 1 Post COVID wellness checks 25 2. Access to education, housing, support groups, respite 17 3. Access to financial support, including interstate entitlements 15 4. Participation in decision making with authorities 9 5. Support for informal carers 8 6. Family preservation - access visits, denied access, family finding, reunification, support for parents 5 7. Preparation for caring - access to information, support with paperwork, lack of payments 5 8. Uluru statement/voice to parliament 4 9. Carer learning and development 3 10. Evaluation of KCV counselling service 3 11. Carer mental and physical health 2 12. Grandparents support and rights, including no longer caring support 2 13. Child mental and physical health 1 14. DFFH /agency complaints about system support 1 100