NSW help for carers
It’s not uncommon for grandparents and relatives to suddenly find themselves back in the parenting role when it comes to grandchildren. For many it’s a tiring job with few if any rights.
But the New South Wales (NSW) government has given NSW carers a new lease of life with greater rights.
The government has introduced a new system that will make it easier for relatives such as grandparents who informally care for children to provide consent for day-to-day activities in the absence of the parents.
NSW Attorney General said there were times when carers of children, such as grandparents, faced practical difficulties looking after children where they need to provide parental consent when the parents are unavailable.
Carers might need to enrol the child in school or consent to them attending a school excursion or receiving medical and dental treatment.
The new system would enable grandparents and other relatives informally looking after a child to make a statutory declaration that they are responsible for the regular care of the young person.
The declaration would help them to establish their status as a carer so that they can work with the child’s school or access health care and other important services.
This new system aims to address the difficulties informal carers often face in granting consent on behalf of children in their care.
The documents will assist informal carers of children in gaining access to services for the children which may include: schools, kindergartens, child care facilities, health services, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages and recreation such as sporting clubs or scouts/guides.
Statutory declaration forms can be downloaded from at http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au or http://www.lawaccess.nsw.gov.au
Setting up a carer support group – Carers NSW resource
Carers New South Wales (NSW) has published a guide to setting up and running carer support groups.
It covers a wide range of topics including how to get in touch with carers, how to manage the development of the group and other more practical matters like insurance.
You can download the free guide from http://www.carersnsw.asn.au/storage/pdfs/SettingUpCSG2010.pdf
