Crisis Care WA: Emergency Support for Grandparent Carers

When a Child Arrives With No Warning

Most grandparent care arrangements in WA start in a crisis. A parent is arrested, hospitalised, in the grip of addiction, or has fled violence. The child arrives at your door — possibly at night, possibly with nothing — and you are now responsible for feeding, sheltering and caring for them. There are no court orders, no caseworker and no payments set up.

Here is what to do in the first days and weeks, in order of urgency.

Day 1–3: Immediate Stabilisation

If the Department of Communities (child protection) is involved — if a caseworker placed the child with you, or Crisis Care (the after-hours child protection line) contacted you — the Department should connect you with emergency financial support and explain the placement. Get the caseworker's name and contact details. Ask specifically about emergency funding for clothing, bedding and food.

Crisis Care after-hours line: 1800 199 008 (for child protection concerns outside business hours)

If this is an informal arrangement — the parent asked you to take the child, or you stepped in without any agency involvement — the payments will come from Centrelink and the WA state system, but they take time to process. In the meantime:

Emergency money:

• Contact a Services Australia Social Worker through Centrelink (call 1800 245 965 — Grandparent Advisers can refer you). Social Workers can authorise advance payments or Crisis Payments.
• Crisis Payment is available if you are fleeing domestic violence and claiming an eligible Centrelink payment.
• Hardship Utility Grant Scheme (HUGS) — if an unexpected utility bill threatens disconnection, apply through the Department of Communities.
• Emergency relief — organisations like the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and Anglicare WA can help with immediate needs. Call the Emergency Relief and Food Access Service on 1800 979 777 for referrals.

Wanslea (Uplyft) crisis counselling: 1800 794 909 — call if you are in distress and need immediate phone-based support.

Week 1–2: Setting Up the Basics

Medicare: If the child is not on your Medicare card, you can still take them to a bulk-billing GP. Explain the situation. Most GPs will provide care while the administrative transfer is processed. Submit Form MS011 to Services Australia to add the child to your card.

School: The child can be enrolled in a WA public school without court orders. You will need the child's birth certificate (or a statutory declaration if you do not have one), their immunisation history from the Australian Immunisation Register, and proof of residence. The school can provide an Informal Carer Declaration for you to complete.

Centrelink claims: Call the Grandparent, Foster and Kinship Carer Advisers at 1800 245 965. Lodge claims for:

• Family Tax Benefit Part A and Part B
• ACCS Grandparent (if the child is in childcare)
• Change of Care — this transfers the child's payment entitlements from the parent to you

Start gathering evidence of care: write a statutory declaration, get a GP letter, collect school enrolment confirmation. Claims can be backdated to the care start date if lodged within the current financial year.

Month 1–3: Building the Support Structure

Once the immediate crisis is managed:

• Apply for the Grandcarers Support Scheme through Wanslea (1800 794 909 or [email protected]). Applications open annually from 1 July; eligibility requires at least four months of full-time informal care. The $1,000 base payment plus the $500/$250 cost-of-living top-up and $377 Gold Card energy relief provide meaningful help.
• Connect with peer support — Grandcarers WA Inc (08 6270 2486) and Wanslea peer support groups. Talking with other grandparent carers who have been through the first months is genuinely helpful.
• Legal advice if needed — Legal Aid WA (1300 650 579) provides free legal advice about parenting orders if you need to formalise the arrangement. The Aboriginal Legal Service of WA (1800 019 900) offers culturally safe legal help for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers.

You Do Not Have to Figure This Out Alone

The first weeks of unexpected kinship care are overwhelming. The payments, paperwork, school and medical systems are navigable — but not when you are trying to work them out in the middle of a crisis, from a dozen different agency websites.

Our WA Kinship Carer Support Guide organises every step into a logical sequence — what to do first, what evidence to gather, which agency to contact for what — so you can move through the process without missing anything.

See more Western Australia guides →