Eligible carers in SA will are getting an extra $800 each year to pay for respite-like supports.
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The flexible respite support payment will help eligible carers pay for services such as gardening and cleaning, or transport for children.
Paid in $200 quarterly instalments, carers will be able to direct the payment towards services that help meet their individual needs. The first lot of payments were scheduled to be made from late January. The changes do not affect traditional respite care, which will still be available to kinship and foster families.
There are more than 980 foster care households with a placement in South Australia, and more than 1720 kinship care households caring for children.
Prior to the decision, more than 400 people had their say on how to make respite more accessible for South Australian carers. This included more than 250 kinship and foster carers, the non-government organisations and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations supporting them, advocacy groups and children and young people.
Connecting Foster & Kinship Carers SA chief executive officer Fiona Endacott described the payment as a "tremendous win".
"Respite looks different for all carer families across SA. The opportunity for carers to have choice and control over how this will look is a phenomenal achievement. "
Child protection minister Katrine Hildyard described kinship and foster carers as "the backbone of the child protection and family support system".
