Karratha foster parent Daniel Roy voices his concerns about a shortage in foster carers in the Pilbara

A Karratha foster parent is concerned a shortage in foster carers in the Pilbara will leave many young people, particularly Aboriginal children, displaced and far from their homes. Foster parent Daniel Roy said the shortages meant children had no choice but to be relocated to Perth. “Particularly for Aboriginal children, that means we’re moving them from country to an environment where they’ve not only just lost all their family, but then they are also losing their entire community, their entire network because they’re being relocated 18 hours away into a place that they probably have never been exposed to,” he said. “So you could imagine how a small child might react to being thrown into somewhere as large and busy as Perth.” Mr Roy and his partner have been fostering three children for five months. “There have been a lot of first-time experiences, simple things like baking cakes and helping in the kitchen and having their own bedroom, which they never had beforehand,” Mr Roy said. “We feel like we are cramming eight or six years worth of first-time experiences into such a short time period that when I say five months out loud, it feels like so much longer. “I think that it has completed an aspect of our lives that we didn’t realise was missing.” MacKillop Family Services State director Kellie Goes said respite carers were desperately needed in Karratha. “So this gives foster carers the opportunity to have a break from caring for the kids for the weekend or for a couple of days,” she said. “It also gives the kids the opportunity to have a break from their carers and to socialise in a different environment and to be heard by different people.” Ms Goes said it would be “fantastic” to get more respite carers, even if they could only offer one weekend a month.