Grandparents who raise their grandchildren, usually due to the death of a parent or substance abuse issues, need more help from the government, a parliamentary committee has recommended.
In a report tabled in Federal Parliament on Wednesday, the Senate's community affairs committee recommended the Departments of Social Services and Human Services do a "comprehensive" review of the supports provided to grandparents who take primary responsibility for their grandchildren.
It also wants to see the federal government trial a voucher system to help grandparents meet the cost of education expenses, including the cost of their own IT training, so they can adequately raise grandchildren who have to use new technology at school.
The cross-parliamentary report – which had unanimous support – also called for the Department of Human Services to look at ways for grandparents to access Commonwealth benefits and to boost the number of "grandparent advisers" it has on staff.
It would also like to see dedicated funding for community legal centres to make sure grandparents get the legal assistance they need, as well as greater access to counselling services.
This comes after the committee heard that grandparents who are raising their grandchildren are "falling through the gaps" – that they do not know what supports are available to them, are likely to be financially disadvantaged and have health problems of their own.
It also heard that grandparents can be unwilling to access government benefits because they may fear repercussions from their children and may be hesitant about formalising their care arrangements because of legal costs or an unwillingness to exacerbate family tensions.
"Throughout this inquiry, in the evidence received, public hearings and conversations we've had, there is a clear love and commitment from grandparents raising grandchildren, however it is clear many are doing it tough and need more support," said Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, who chaired the committee.
"From our inquiry, it is clear that action is needed to address the numerous and significant challenges facing grandparent raising grandchildren that can affect their quality of life, and ability to support and care for their grandchildren."
There is no hard data on the number of grandparents who raise grandchildren, but Labor's spokeswoman for communities Claire Moore, who participated in the inquiry, said thousands of Australian grandparents were estimated to be the main caregivers for grandchildren.
Sometimes this was due to a death of a parent, but it was more often due to substance abuse issues.
Senator Moore said that along with financial and legal supports, grandparents wanted acknowledgement.
"They thought that they were lost in society."
