Victoria's foster care system is in a "dire" situation, with potentially life-altering consequences for some of the state's most vulnerable children, sector leaders say.
The number of children in out-of-home care has increased in the past four years, while the number of active foster carers in the state has decreased, data shows.
"The situation is quite dire at the moment. We have more young people coming into care than the system can cope with," Berry Street deputy chief executive Jenny McNaughton said.
"If you are going to remove a child from their parent, I believe we are absolutely obliged to offer a better alternative and the young person and the family absolutely deserve that.
"In some instances, I can't say that is happening. I can't say they are better off in some placements."
More kids, fewer carers
The number of children in out-of-home care in Victoria has continued to rise each year since 2018, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data.
There were 12,809 children in out-of-home care in the state as of June 30, 2021, an almost 14 per cent increase from 11,271 in 2018.
Out-of-home care includes residential, kinship and foster care.
Meanwhile, the number of foster carers has declined in the same four-year period, with 1,784 carers recorded as active in Victoria as of March 2022, according to Foster Care Association of Victoria data.
There were 1,808 active carers at the same time in 2018.
"We have beautiful families looking after kids in amazing ways, but it really is at capacity," Ms McNaughton said.
"What it means is sometimes we aren't able to place a child with foster carers because there aren't any placements."
Foster carers, placement coordinators and organisation leaders say the situation is putting pressure on existing carers, taking an emotional toll on workers and creating undesirable outcomes for children.
They report more children in residential care homes at younger ages, being moved between emergency placements, separated from their siblings and spending nights in hotels with workers.
Steve Densley has worked in the foster care system for 17 years and said he had his toughest week at work last month.
The senior intake worker at Berry Street in Ballarat said he had an influx of children needing a place to stay and he could not find homes for a lot of them.
"That is always on my mind, thinking 'What could we have done better for these children?" he said.
"Without the carers, I find I can't do better because really it is the carers that provide that care, and without our carers we haven't got a foster care program.
"We had so many children who needed a home and we just couldn't facilitate that at all."
Mr Densley said he was not sure why there had been a decline in carer numbers, but suspected the coronavirus pandemic and rising financial pressures could have played a a role.
Every day he receives referrals for children who have been removed from their families, and he does his best to match each child to an appropriate carer.
"I feel a lot of responsibility in my role. I find it very difficult to sit in that space when I can't find a young child a home, it really plays on my mind quite a bit," Mr Densley said.
"What can happen in the worst case scenario is they end up bouncing around, spending nights in hotel rooms with workers.
"And then sometimes they may end up out of their area where they have their connection which is really sad.
"But the primary goal is to find them a safe space and a roof over their head so they can hopefully be reunified with their family later on, but at this point it is just difficult to find them a home."
The realities of caring
Suzanne and Bob Pickard have been foster carers since 2015 but have long known about the important role carers play in the community.
Now retired, Mrs Pickard was previously the foster care placement coordinator with Berry Street in Ballarat.
The couple has offered all types of care, including emergency, respite and short-term placements mainly for adolescents and have had one boy in their care for seven years now.
Mr Pickard said he was originally hesitant about welcoming strangers into their home, but now has no regrets.
"It is probably the most worthwhile thing we have done, I think, as people," he said.
"There are challenges in it but those challenges are worth it when you see the difference you can make. You can change someone's life."
Foster carers undergo a training and assessment period before they are accredited as foster carers and support is ongoing during child placements.
Carers receive an allowance to cover the costs of caring for a child.
At one point in their caring journey, Mr and Mrs Pickard had four teenage boys living in their home.
Mrs Pickard said having more carers in the system would help spread the load around.
"When you know what will happen to them [children] if you don't say yes, that is a real difficulty for existing foster carers," she said.
At its core, Mrs Pickard said foster care was about providing a stable house, modelling good behaviour, building trust and meeting a child's daily needs.
She said it was different to parenting, because interactions and reactions to behaviours were based on a therapeutic response, knowing every child in care had a background of trauma.
Mrs Pickard said sometimes, it was just about providing a listening ear.
"If you have a look in our lounge room there is a little green chair by the fire and that is the conversation chair," she said.
"It is right by my chair and if I am sitting in the lounge room and a child wants to talk, they come and sit in the conversation chair."
Long-term benefits
Mr and Mrs Pickard have seen how the effect can be lifelong.
"We have foster children who still call us Mum and Dad, who still call us when they are in trouble or want advice and they still come to visit us," Mrs Pickard said.
When asked what it took to be a foster carer, Mr Pickard said a "willingness to give it a go" was the main criteria.
"There is a demand for all sorts of carers. Being a respite carer, where you take a child for a weekend or a week to give their permanent carer a rest, is a good way to start," he said.
"It is not a long-term commitment. You can dip your toe in the water and see how you go."
"If you have got a room in your house that you could make available for foster care and you have a heart for children and want to make a difference, that is all you need," Mrs Pickard said.
Mr Densley said anyone aged 21 and over could apply to become a foster carer, including single people, same-sex couples and renters.
"The role modelling that carers provide, the experiences they offer, it sets the children up for the rest of their life," he said.
