I didn't like my life at that stage.
I'd, you know, go to sleep, bawl my eyes out
because I obviously missed my family.
I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know why I was there.
The foster system is a band-aid approach
to deal with families that are struggling.
You know, we need to have policies and services
that support families, mothers and their children, to stay together.
In Australia we've got over 42,000 children and young people in care.
There are approximately 20,000 carers.
That's pretty alarming.
Becoming a foster parent changed everything.
Um, it opened our eyes to a completely different side of life
that we had never been exposed to.
It's been hard and rewarding
and life-changing for us.
Pretend I wasn't a kid with red hair that grew up in foster care.
Hard, the age of eight getting spat at in my face.
Who knows? But this is my place my shoes and I wear em well.
My name is Terry, um, I'm 19 going on 20.
I've been in foster care since, basically,
I was knee-high to a grasshopper.
There are 9000 kids in foster care
in Queensland alone.
Growing up, Terry moved between 15 foster homes,
which meant new schools, friends and families.
I grew up, not the easiest way of,
always wondered "Why me? Why did this happen to me?"
It's very heart-wrenching because
the mothers who, um, have been criminalised
and imprisoned have had their children removed.
Ah, where the Department makes no attempt
to reunify, or even to get the children to see their mother.
Debbie Kilroy is a criminal lawyer and the CEO of Sisters Inside.
She represents many women who go in and out of prison
with kids in foster care.
She says we're too ready to separate mothers from their kids.
When we're talking about
children that are seriously abused and assaulted,
then, yes, of course those assessments have to be made.
But if we're talking about children being removed
just because mum's been in prison
or mum's a victim of domestic violence,
no, I'm sorry, they are better off with their children.
The foster home where Tiahleigh Palmer
spent the final ten months of her short life.
In November 2015 the body of missing Queensland foster child
Tiahleigh Palmer was discovered.
In August this year
her foster father was charged with her murder,
and foster brother with incest.
She was in care and the result is rape and murder.
Now that's an extreme case,
but, you know, there's all levels along the spectrum of abuse
that happens to these children that are taken from their mothers.
The cycle continues.
At Foster Care Queensland
they say the aim is for children to stay with their family of origin
or next of kin.
But it's not always possible.
Wherever we can actually do that we're much, much better off.
We got better life outcomes for children, and we already know that.
Not only is Bryan Smith the executive director of Foster Care Queensland,
he and his wife have been foster carers for more than 25 years.
How many children have we cared for?
Probably around 150 children and young people.
It has been tough.
It's been really hard work at times.
We've been really annoyed and cranky at the system at times,
um, especially as kinship carers.
But enriched our lives beyond anything
that we can absolutely believe.
But despite being so rewarding,
Foster Care Queensland struggles to attract carers and new funding.
I'll absolutely say that we've never got enough money, quite honestly.
.. decided that we would do something different
that no other radio station has ever done before
and cook for you and make you eat it.
My name's Emily-Jade O'Keeffe.
I'm absolutely a career woman.
I believe that I personally
need the balance, um, and the outlet.
Um, but I am certainly also a mother first.
The process in becoming a foster carer is quite intense.
People come into your home
and they assess your home security and safety.
And then they also assess you and your family and everyone around you.
So they really research, even my brothers and my parents
and my husband's family as well.
It's definitely a strict process.
- You ready? - Yeah.
The first time I picked my kids up was, um...
Ah, sorry, I'm emotional about it.
It's not what you think, you know.
When you grow a baby in your stomach you think
"Oh, I'll have all these beautiful feelings of love and anticipation"
and you think that it's going to be wonderful.
Then you get your baby and it's really hard.
And it is the same, ah, with foster care, you know.
I was so excited I went to the shops
when I found out the ages of the kids I was going to get.
And I went to the shops and bought everything.
And then I went to pick them up and they didn't want me.
They didn't want to get into a car with me.
I had two very frightened screaming kids in the car,
driving them home, and, um...
yeah, it's probably one of the most horrific experiences in my life.
I'm happy to say, you know, now they run to us
when we go to pick them up, they run to us.
And they cry when we have to hand them back over.
And it's been hard and rewarding and life-changing for us.
But the uncertainty is taxing.
You never know when the child you're caring for
might return to their biological family.
In my case, I would certainly like to see them reunited.
I have realised through this process
that they love their mum and dad.
And they want their mum and dad to be the best mum and dad.
Ah, and I don't know if that's the case for all kids.
I would suspect that all kids
just want their parents to get better.
Well, the majority of women, um, that we work with and for
are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
And, um, and that's what I'm saying.
These are the cases that are really heart-wrenching
because those children are removed from their mother,
from their family, from their community,
from their culture, from their language.
Indigenous children are nine times more likely
to be removed by authorities.
There are 15,000 of them living in state care.
And that number is expected to triple over the next couple of decades.
It's a system that's fundamentally failed
and fundamentally flawed.
And, ah, I'm sure there's some really good stories out there
for foster care, no doubt.
But this is about how it's a broken system.
Terry, I've just got to talk to you
about a presentation that you've been asked to do next week.
Terry is now an advocate for kids in care.
You find out and come to an organisation
where I'm not the only one.
It just made me feel like I was a part of something bigger.
We thought, wow, this is an articulate young man,
um, who's got passion for making the system better.
We do have a problem with stigma around kids in care
in our community.
And there is quite a negative perception of them.
But I can tell you as someone who's worked with them
for nine years, I simply can't understand it.
Because I'm continually amazed by
the resilience, the strength and the bravery of these young people.
In, in the future I want to be a youth worker.
That's what I want to do.
I want to be that youth worker that I wish I had.
I think it's because of who I am.
I pushed all the negative stuff into the back of my mind
and I remember the positive things.