An extra $24 million to protect Tasmanian children at risk

Improving child safety services, increasing the out-of-home care age to 21 and improving incentive payments to foster carers and young people for completing their Tasmanian Certificate of Education or equivalent is all part of the Hodgman Liberal Government’s strong plan to support positive generational change for children.

We are committed to a comprehensive whole-of-government redesign of the child safety system to better support families and children at risk in Tasmania.

The Tasmanian Government is investing an additional $24 million in funding to support this redesign, employing more child safety officers and other frontline staff, and assisting vulnerable children with very complex needs in out-of-home care.

This is on top of the $51.2 million in increased funding for out-of-home care and the redesign of child and safety services that we have already committed in our first term.

In addition to that, we are delivering on our election commitments, which will provide:

$7.5 million over three years for additional intensive family and parenting support services, including specific support for at-risk youths. A further $2 million will be allocated to the Youth at Risk Strategy, including individualised case management.
$4.35 million over three years to ensure young people transitioning from out-of-home care are ready and supported, with $3 million to extend care up to the age of 21. $1.2 million has been allocated for an incentive payment of $2500 to both the foster carer and young person upon successful completion of their TCE or equivalent to encourage them to continue their studies.
$50,000 a year will be given to CREATE Foundation Tasmania to further engage and support young people in care.
$900,000 over three years will be allocated to strengthen the permanency of placement process to avoid children being continually moved between multiple foster care homes.
$600,000 over three years to continue the Mums ‘n’ Bubs program at Karinya for young mothers.
$580,000 to keep the Kentish Family Support Services open and deliver vital services. This was closed under the former Labor-Green government.

The Strong Families Safe Kids redesign is already seeing system improvements, but we know there is more work to be done.

This budget shows our commitment to continuing to improve the lives of children and young people and better support families and children at risk so that we can help them achieve the best possible future.