GOLD Coast children suffering from sexual and physical abuse are being placed in undesirable living situations due to a desperate lack of foster carers.

Spiritus TRACC Gold Coast service manager Candice Bell more than 25 children a month are placed in safe yet undesirable living situations like residential homes because there are simply not enough carers to provide them with a home.

Spiritus TRACC Gold Coast provides care for children who are unable to live with their own families.

“There are never enough foster carers. But there is a desperate need for carers who can take sibling groups and older children,” Ms Bell said.

“That’s the biggest area we need help in. We struggle to find homes for children aged nine and over.

“We often end up having to separate sibling groups because we don’t have carers that can take more than one child. It’s not good.”

Ms Bell said if homes cannot be found on the Gold Coast for children then they be moved to other cities.

“If we cannot find homes they can be placed outside of the community. Or they may go into residential care where they are looked after by youth workers,” she said.

“Leaving the Gold Coast can definitely be upsetting. We don’t like to change their schools and usually the parents live around the area and they need to have contact so that can make it really difficult for them.

“It can cause a lot more disruption if they have to be placed outside of the Gold Coast.”

According to Ms Bell children requiring foster care have been subject to some sort of abuse or neglect, foster care is never a result of the child’s own actions.

“All of our children in care have experienced some sort of abuse so they are either suffering from physical, emotional or sexual abuse,” Ms Bell said.

“We often get kids who have come into care and have witnessed domestic violence, or mum or dad has mental health issues or substance abuse problems.

“If children are at immediate risk and we cannot find homes for them they then have to be placed in a less than ideal situation.

“They are either taken out of their area or placed in care which is a pretty artificial home life.”

Ms Bell said residents who wish to become carers need to have a great deal of love.

“The practical side is that they need to have room for a child,” she said.

“We have carers who are single, married, same sex couples, older, younger.

“Kids will come into care and they just have a blank look on their face. Over time they gradually get that light back in their eyes. They become happy again.”

The problem is not confined to the Gold Coast with the Queensland Government stating on their website there is a growing need for more foster carers throughout Queensland.

DID YOU KNOW?

Foster carers do not have to be well off or have a large home to become a carer.

Potential foster carers need to undergo a criminal background check and have a Blue Card

Carers may also have to complete additional training to cater for a child’s individual needs

WANT TO HELP?

Visit www.spiritus.org.au. or www.communities.qld.gov.au/child safety/foster-care for how to become a foster carer.