Rising costs impact WA children

With high inflation and 12 interest rate hikes over 14 months in Australia, cost of living is affecting everyone.

While a broad range of households are struggling, it is those with children that have been hit hard in the past year. Unexpected medical bills when kids are sick or injured on top of higher food and energy bills and increased housing expenses have added extra financial pressure. 

WA families are doing it tough, but for WA regional families with sick or injured children, the added costs of medical bills, accommodation close to hospital, and transport or travel expenses are adding further stress to everyday costs such as increasing food and energy prices and mortgage rate increases.  

In 2022, one in three families supported by Ronald McDonald House Charities WA (RMHC WA), a not-for-profit providing support for WA families with sick or injured children, said their financial circumstances were stressful and difficult to manage.

“Families from across the state are doing it tough,” RMHC WA CEO Peter King told Business News.

“Those with children that need critical or complex medical care far from home, jobs and schools are under a lot of stress both financially and emotionally.”

Vital support for sick kids in WA

RMHC WA provides young patients and their families a home-away-from-home, close to the medical care they need, with continued education for the patient and their siblings, meals and 24/7 support for as long or as often as they need, at no cost.

Each year more families with sick children are reaching out for RMHC WA support beyond its current capacity.

An average of 15 families per month register on the charity’s waitlist creating numerous challenges for families and hospitals due to delayed or cancelled treatments.

Families that need to access treatment without the support of RMHC WA face additional costs for private accommodation and meals.

Indicative cost savings for families supported by RMHC WA cover approximately $3000 per fortnight for family accommodation and meals, a school tutor for 40 hours at $50 per hour ($2000), and occupational therapy support for tutoring ($1000).

Earlier this year, the WA Government stepped in with a $9.6 million contribution to temporarily extend its supported accommodation at a nearby facility. The support will help an additional 50 young patients and their families per day over the next four years.

RMHC WA’s 2022 Impact Report highlights its essential support to families with sick kids across the state, with 80 per cent of families saying without RMHC WA support their financial circumstances would worsen and impact their family’s wellbeing.

“Due to the breadth of patient diagnoses and treatments required, families will stay with us anywhere from several days to months or regularly over years,” Mr King said.

“At RMHC WA we help alleviate the financial and emotional burden for parents and carers, so they can focus on supporting the treatment and continued development of both their sick and healthy children.”

Food insecurity among WA kids

According to Foodbank WA, households with dependent children are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. More than half (52%) were either moderately or severely food insecure in 2022, 1.6 times higher than the national average of household food insecurity at 33 per cent.

Foodbank WA’s 2022 Hunger Report shows there are 1.3 million children in Australia living in severely food insecure households.

“Single parents are some of the hardest hit, with 37 per cent of single parent families experiencing severe food insecurity in the last year, skipping meals or going whole days without eating,” Foodbank WA CEO Kate O’Hara told Business News.  

Foodbank WA provides its School Breakfast Program to 500 schools across the state, giving students the opportunity to eat a wholesome, nutritious breakfast they would otherwise miss out on.

The program reaches over 21,000 children, serving over 68,600 breakfasts per week, combatting the number of school children in WA going to school hungry.

“We get support for our School Breakfast Programs from the Government. That is our only remaining funding from January next year and we’ve lost the Government support for nutrition education which has been rerouted elsewhere," she said.

“The rest of the funds that keep us going come from philanthropists, donors, individuals and corporates."