How does foster care work?

Foster carers provide a stable home for vulnerable children and young people who can't live with their own families for a period of time.

Foster carers help by taking on the responsibility of caring for a child while their parents or guardian get help to make things better.

Children may be placed in foster care following a court order, or a voluntary arrangement between the child's guardian and a service provider.

• They are at risk of serious harm or neglect.
• They have been exposed to domestic violence, sexual assault or physical abuse.
• Their parent or carer is struggling with drug or alcohol abuse, is in jail or otherwise unavailable.
• Their parent has mental health issues or an intellectual disability and isn't able to look after them.

A foster parent may provide out-of-home care to a child for any length of time from a single overnight stay to several years. There are different types of care that you can choose to provide, to best suit your lifestyle:

• emergency care — at short notice, for children who need it immediately
• respite care — short periods, to give other foster caresr, kinship carers or parents a break
• short-term care — lasting from a few months up to 2 years
• long-term or permanent care — lasting longer than 2 years (usually when the child is not expected to be reunited with their birth parents)
• kinship care — where a child is fostered by a relative or someone they already know

Becoming a foster carer is a big decision that will impact your life and those around you. It needs careful thought about the commitments, changes and challenges, but it can be very rewarding.

Children are more likely to do well in a caring environment. If you are interested in making a difference to a vulnerable child by providing a loving and stable home, fostering a child may be right for you.

Yes. Anyone can apply to be a foster carer, if you are committed to providing a safe, stable and supportive home. You don't have to have lots of money or own your own house.

Foster carers can be:

• single people
• couples, including same-sex couples
• people who don't have children
• people who already have children

You need to:

• be an adult (the minimum age will depend on the state or territory you live in)
• have a current working with children check
• be healthy
• be willing undergo training
• have room in your house for an extra person
• be prepared to provide a caring environment

If you are interested in becoming a foster carer, you will need to check eligibility requirements and apply in the state you live in.

Unlike fostering, kinship is a type of out-of-home care where the caregiver already has a relationship with the child or young person.

The caregiver could be a relative or family friend, or a member of their community.

A kinship arrangement is often the first care option. It can be more stable for the child and allows them to keep a sense of their culture and family. It can also reduce the anxiety children can feel when separated from their parents.

There are different kinds of kinship arrangement:

• formal or statutory kinship placement — when the child has been placed by a child protection agency, or through the court system.
• informal, private or non-statutory kinship — where the child is placed with someone they know, without any formal child protection intervention.

Although there are many rewards that come from being an out-of-home carer, there may also be difficulties.

Emotional challenges

Foster carers may:

• find it stressful to deal with the child's complex needs
• feel they are not being included in decision-making for the child
• feel frustrated if they can't access enough information about the child's health or any problem behaviours
• find it hard to meet with costs related to child's care
• have difficulty with their own feelings of emotional attachment to the child
• worry about the impact of fostering on any other children in the family

Issues from the child's background

The child may have experienced trauma in their past. This may result in challenging or destructive behaviours including violence and self-harm. Foster parents may not feel adequately prepared to manage these behaviours.

Contact with biological parents

It is important for children to have contact with their biological parents, if it is safe to do so. This helps maintain their family and cultural identity and continuity of relationships, and can help to build stability and security for the child.

Financial considerations

There is financial help available for foster parents. However, many carers still face financial challenges related to their role as a carer.

Visit Services Australia for information about payments that may be available to you as a foster carer.

Authorities across Australia have different legal requirements for fostering and kinship care. They may also have different programs for administering these services and pay caregivers.

If you are interested in becoming a foster carer, you should contact the relevant authority to check how fostering works. These are specific to each state or territory.

To find out more about how out-of-home care works in your state, contact your state government agency from the list below:

• New South Wales — Department of Communities & Justice
• Victoria — Department of Health and Human Services
• Queensland — Queensland Government Community support
• Western Australia — Department of Communities
• South Australia — Department for Child Protection
• Tasmania — Department for Education, Children and Young People
• Australian Capital Territory — Child and Youth Protection Services
• Northern Territory — Community support and care

Visit How does adoption work? to find out more about adoption.

Looking for information for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people?

Contact My Forever Family NSW to help Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children and young peoples who need kinship, foster care, emergency or part-time care.