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They’re Just Doing It for the Money

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The Slow Evolution of Foster Care in Australia

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood ((PSHC))

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Abstract

In this chapter, Musgrove and Michell ask who has undertaken the work of being foster carers over the 150 years, or so, that statutory foster care has been part of Australian child welfare systems, and what has motivated them to do it? The chapter examines changing attitudes towards payments for foster carers, and argues that even in the nineteenth century, when the notion that foster carers might make a modest profit from the work was not especially controversial, foster care was still not generally understood purely as a financial transaction. The final part of the chapter draws on oral history interviews to examine the experiences and motivations of foster carers from the 1960s onwards, and their view is clear: it is not about the money.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We accept that it is likely our sample of foster carers was skewed; it is unlikely that foster carers motivated by anything other than concern for the well-being of children and young people in out of home care, or those who treated the children and young people badly, would have come forward to be interviewed.

  2. 2.

    Chapter 6: Foster Care—Philosophies, Rhetoric and Practices.

  3. 3.

    Caroline Evans, “Excellent Women and Troublesome Children: State Foster Care in Tasmania, 1896–1918,” Labour History, no. 83 (2002): 131–48.

  4. 4.

    “Advertising,” Argus (Melbourne), 30 December 1870, 1. This text from 1870 was identical with advertisements from the 1860s, save for the changing location of the schools and appointment times.

  5. 5.

    For example see, “Advertising,” Argus (Melbourne), 3 March 1866, 1.

  6. 6.

    Nell Musgrove, “‘Every Time I Think of Baby I Cry’: Dislocation and Survival in Victoria’s Child Welfare System,” Australian Historical Studies 39, no. 2 (2008): 218.

  7. 7.

    “Advertising,”Argus (Melbourne), 13 March 1873, 1.

  8. 8.

    On the pressures placed on the department which led to the termination of single mothers working as wet nurses in the schools see: Musgrove, “‘Every Time I Think of Baby I Cry’,” 218. On the stigmatisation of single mothers more broadly see: Shurlee Swain and Renate Howe, Single Mothers and Their Children: Disposal, Punishment and Survival in Australia (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1995). On the department commencing boarding out infants in 1872 see: Industrial and Reformatory Schools Office, Victoria. Industrial and Reformatory Schools Department: Reports of the Inspector, 1872.

  9. 9.

    VPRS 3991, Unit 740, 74/76324.

  10. 10.

    They were not all the bereaved married mother imagined in the advertisement quoted above, but they evidently met the expectations of respectability sufficiently to appease the ladies.

  11. 11.

    VPRS 3992, Unit 1231, 81/7473.

  12. 12.

    VPRS 3992, Unit 1231, 81/7473.

  13. 13.

    VPRS 3992, Unit 1231, 81/7473.

  14. 14.

    For example see VPRS 3991, Unit 1328, 82/6719. There was no legal adoption in this era, but the term was used by the Victorian department to describe foster children kept on without payment.

  15. 15.

    Industrial and Reformatory Schools Department, Victoria. Industrial and Reformatory Schools Department: Reports of the Inspector, 1875.

  16. 16.

    VPRS 3992, Unit 1231, 81/7473.

  17. 17.

    VPRS 3992, Unit 1326, 82/5277.

  18. 18.

    Marjorie Theobald and Shurlee Swain, “Education, Primary,” in eMelbourne: City Past & Present (Melbourne: School of Philosophical and Historical Studies, University of Melbourne, 2008), available at http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00506b.htm, last accessed 25 March 2018.

  19. 19.

    Industrial and Reformatory Schools Office, Victoria. Industrial and Reformatory Schools Department: Reports of the Inspector, 1866.

  20. 20.

    VPRS 3992, Unit 1231, 81/7437.

  21. 21.

    VPRS 3992, Unit 1326, 82/5277.

  22. 22.

    VPRS 3992, Unit 1326, 82/5277.

  23. 23.

    VPRS 3992, Unit 1326, 82/5277.

  24. 24.

    Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools, Victoria. Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools: Reports of the Secretary, 1882.

  25. 25.

    The mandatory school leaving age was lowered to thirteen in 1889, and not raised to fourteen until 1910, see Edward Sweetman, Charles Long, and John Smyth, A History of State Education in Victoria (Melbourne, VIC: Education Department of Victoria, 1922), 85.

  26. 26.

    Industrial and Reformatory Schools Office, Victoria. Industrial and Reformatory Schools Department: Reports of the Inspector, 1874, 6.

  27. 27.

    Industrial and Reformatory Schools Department, Victoria. Industrial and Reformatory Schools Department: Reports of the Inspector, 1875, 6.

  28. 28.

    For further illustration of this point, see the case of John Wood Pledger explored in Chapter 2: Did Anybody Care? The death of John Wood Pledger .

  29. 29.

    Nell Musgrove, The Scars Remain: A Long History of Forgotten Australians and Children’s Institutions (Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2013).

  30. 30.

    Chapter 4: Remembering and Forgetting Foster Care.

  31. 31.

    Hugh Cunningham , Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500, 2nd ed. (London: Pearson Education Limited, 2005), 185.

  32. 32.

    Harry Ferguson , “Abused and Looked After Children as “Moral Dirt”: Child Abuse and Institutional Care in Historical Perspective,” Journal of Social Policy 36, no. 1 (2007): 123. See also: Chapter 6: Foster Care—Philosophies, Rhetoric and Practices.

  33. 33.

    Musgrove, The Scars Remain, 134–57.

  34. 34.

    See Chapter 4: Remembering and Forgetting Foster Care.

  35. 35.

    Industrial and Reformatory Schools Office, Victoria. Industrial and Reformatory Schools Department: Reports of the Inspector 1874, 6.

  36. 36.

    Nell Musgrove, “Imagining Foster Families,” Journal of Australian Studies 38, no. 2 (2014): 175–89.

  37. 37.

    Damien Riggs, “Australian Lesbian and Gay Foster Carers Negotiationg the Child Protection System: Strengths and Challenges,” Sex Research and Social Policy 8 (2011): 216–26; Damien Riggs and Martha Augoustinos, “Institutional Stressors and Individual Strengths: Policy and Practice Direction for Working with Australian Gay Foster Carers,” Practice: Social Work in Action 21, no. 2 (2009): 77–90; Stephen Hicks, “Maternal Men—Perverts and Deviants? Making Sense of Gay Men as Foster Carers and Adopters,” Journal of GLBT Family Studies 2, no. 1 (2006): 93–114.

  38. 38.

    See, for example, W. B. Evans and Leonard Tierney, “Making Foster Care Possible,” Children Australia 20, no. 2 (1995).

  39. 39.

    Mary McLelland, “The Motivations of Foster Parents,” Australian Journal of Social Work 16, no. 2 (1963): 45.

  40. 40.

    Ibid.

  41. 41.

    P. K. Jordan and C. Bywater, “Fostering the Handicapped Child—An Experiment,” Australian Journal of Mental Retardation 2 (1973).

  42. 42.

    Evans and Tierney, “Making Foster Care Possible,” 8.

  43. 43.

    J. Kraus, “Selective Campaigning for Foster Homes: An Empirical View,” Australian Social Work 28, no. 1 (1975): 61.

  44. 44.

    Ruth Lawrence, “Recruiting Carers for Children in Substitute Care: The Challenge of Program Revision,” ibid. 47 (1994): 40.

  45. 45.

    Louise Keogh and Ulla Svensson, “Why Don’t They Become Foster Carers?” Children Australia 24, no. 2 (1999): 16.

  46. 46.

    Martin Mowbray and Lois Bryson, “Women Really Care,” Australian Journal of Social Issues 19, no. 4 (1984).

  47. 47.

    Lawrence, “Recruiting Carers for Children in Substitute Care: The Challenge of Program Revision,” 40.

  48. 48.

    TAFE (Technical and Further Education) is a government-run system providing vocational tertiary education, for example, in childcare and plumbing.

  49. 49.

    Paul Delfabbro et al., “The Effectiveness of Public Foster Carer Recruitment Campaigns,” Children Australia 33, no. 3 (2008): 31.

  50. 50.

    Judy Sebba, “Why Do People Become Foster Carers? An International Literature Review on the Motivation to Foster” (Oxford: Rees Centre, University of Oxford, 2012), 7.

  51. 51.

    Dawn M. Juratowitch and Norman J. Smith, “Quality Foster Care: Who Decides?” Children Australia 21, no. 1 (1996): 10.

  52. 52.

    Fay Gale, “Foster Homes for Aboriginal Children,”Australian Journal of Social Work 21, no. 1 (1968): 13.

  53. 53.

    Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, “Bringing Them Home: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families” (Sydney: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 1997).

  54. 54.

    For details on the history of establishing bodies and policies for implementing Indigenous child placement principles in the period since the 1970s see: Bruce Valentine and Mel Gray, “Keeping Them Home: Aboriginal Out-of-Home Care in Australia,” Families in Society 87, no. 4 (2006): 537–45.

  55. 55.

    Lixia Qu and Ruth Weston, “Australian Households and Families,” in Australian Family Trends, https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/aft4.pdf (Australian Institute of Family Studies, Australian Government, 2013).

  56. 56.

    Musgrove, “Imagining Foster Families,” 175–89.

  57. 57.

    Chapter 4: Remembering and Forgetting Foster Care.

  58. 58.

    All references to and quotations from Matthew and Samantha throughout this section are from: Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Matthew,” 2015.

  59. 59.

    Family Tax Benefit (FTB) is a Federal Government means tested payment that assists families with the cost of raising children. There are two components, FTB A is an amount paid per children while FTB is an amount paid per family. See: “Families and Children: Family Tax Benefit,” Department of Social Services, Australian Government, https://www.dss.gov.au/families-and-children/benefits-payments/family-tax-benefit, last accessed 24 April 2018.

  60. 60.

    Chapter 4: Remembering and Forgetting Foster Care; Chapter 9: Are We Getting Better at This?

  61. 61.

    See Grace’s story in Chapter 4: Remembering and Forgetting Foster Care.

  62. 62.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Jeanine,” 2014.

  63. 63.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Karen,” 2014.

  64. 64.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Janet,” 2014.

  65. 65.

    “Jeanine”.

  66. 66.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Debbie,” 2014.

  67. 67.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Ellen,” 2014.

  68. 68.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Jason,” 2015.

  69. 69.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Caroline,” 2015.

  70. 70.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Chrissy,” 2015. It is not unusual for foster families to be family oriented and to make decisions that consider the impact on the family as a whole, see Evans and Tierney, “Making Foster Care Possible,” 7.

  71. 71.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Donna,” 2014.

  72. 72.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Jo,” 2014.

  73. 73.

    Chapter 4: Remembering and Forgetting Foster Care.

  74. 74.

    Long History of Foster Care Oral History Project, “Pam,” 2014.

  75. 75.

    This finding accords with the Delfabbro et al. one in their evaluation of a South Australian Government recruitment campaign which ran from 2004 to 2006, see Delfabbro et al., “The Effectiveness of Public Foster Carer Recruitment Campaigns,” 31.

  76. 76.

    “Matthew”; “Jeanine”; “Pam”.

  77. 77.

    “Jo”.

  78. 78.

    Lynda Campbell, “The Wider Caring Network,” Children Australia 24, no. 4 (1999): 5.

  79. 79.

    Jan Mason, “Foster Care and Permanency an Analysis of the Context for Practice,” Australian Journal of Social Issues 26, no. 4 (1991).

  80. 80.

    For more on this experiment see Brenda Smith and Tina Smith, “For Love and Money: Women as Foster Mothers,” Affilia 5, no. 1 (1990); Brenda Smith, “Australian Women and Foster Care: A Feminist Perspective,” Child Welfare LXX, no. 2 (1991).

  81. 81.

    “Jeanine”; “Debbie”.

  82. 82.

    “Karen”; “Jeanine”.

  83. 83.

    “Donna”; “Karen”.

  84. 84.

    “Chrissy”.

  85. 85.

    Ibid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, VIC, Australia

    Nell Musgrove

  2. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Deidre Michell

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  1. Nell Musgrove
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  2. Deidre Michell
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Correspondence to Nell Musgrove .

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Musgrove, N., Michell, D. (2018). They’re Just Doing It for the Money. In: The Slow Evolution of Foster Care in Australia. Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93900-1_5

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