View our Foster Care useful links and Committment to quality services.

Foster Care program

The goal of Foster Care is to provide temporary or longer term care for children and young people in a safe and nurturing home, during a time when they cannot live with their family. This care is provided by OzChild trained, accredited and supported caregivers. Stories of care below gives insight into foster care for children through stories of families' experiences.

Children in Care

Most children come into care because they have been removed from their birth parents by Child Protection. Children stay with their Foster Carers until the birth family can provide appropriate care for the children, or until a permanent care family is found. There can also be voluntary placements by a parent of a child into foster care when a parent is unable or unwilling to look after a child. For example, a single mother with few supports, who has to go into hospital to give birth.

Most of the children and families involved in the program are considered "at risk" and the majority of these children and young people are the subject of child protection orders through the Melbourne Children's Court.

Foster Care staff endeavour to work towards reunification of children with their families wherever this is in their best interest. The safety and well being of children and young people is the primary focus of the Foster Care service.

Agencies

In Victoria, there are many community service organisations (CSOs) which provide foster care. CSOs are generally funded by the Department of Human Services (DHS) to offer foster care for 0-12 year olds (children), or for 12-17 year olds (adolescents), sometimes both. Carers choose the foster care agency in their local area according to whether they want to provide care for children or adolescents.

Our age group

At OzChild, foster care is provided predominantly to 0-12 year old infants and children via the Foster Care Program. We offer care to adolescents where they are part of a sibling group with younger children or where they have come into our care as younger children and have stayed on.

Our geographic area

We offer foster care through most of Southern Metropolitan Melbourne. We provide foster care in the Cities of Casey, Greater Dandenong, Frankston, and Kingston; and the Shires of Cardinia and Mornington Peninsula. We are the major provider of foster care in the Southern Metropolitan region, and the largest single provider in any one region. On any given night, 178 children are in bed in one of our Foster Carer's homes.

To contact us, please phone (03) 9212 3900 at 1536 Heatherton Road, Dandenong Vic 3175.

Our commitment to quality services

OzChild is committed to delivering integrated high quality services for children and families. This approach to quality is supported by the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005, which provides a formal approach to quality assurance by registering agencies providing family and out-of-home care services and by the Minister for Community Services establishing Registration Standards.

The eight Registration Standards build on a strong history of agencies, peak bodies, the Office of the Child Safety Commissioner, regional offices and DHS working together to strengthen service model effectiveness and quality. The standards were published in the Government Gazette on 23 April 2007.

Visit the Australian Government DHS Children Youth and Families site to view the eight Registration Standards - or review our Quality policy to see how OzChild meets these.

About Foster Care

Home based care, or foster care, is temporary or long-term foster care for children who are unable to live at home due to family crisis, neglect or abuse. A child might come into foster care for a few nights or weeks or even for a few months or years. Trained volunteers look after children in their own home and receive 24-hour support, a tax-free allowance and reimbursement of other expenses.

Respite is also offered as a number of short, planned placements which offer support to families so that they are able to continue caring for their children. It may be offered one weekend per month, so the same child comes to stay with you on a regular basis.

Wherever possible, brothers and sisters are kept together in care. Sibling groups being placed together allows the children to have a sense of family identity and to grow up knowing their brothers and sisters. This program also caters for children with special needs so that care is provided for children who have significant behavioural or medical needs, or a disability.

Available here are three stories of Foster Care:

• Simone’s story - a carer’s own child
• The Brown Family story - for the Brown family, who looked after three children together
• Amy & Erin’s story - Amy and Erin, who overcame phobias after moving into foster care

The OzChild Foster Care program relies on a dedicated group of volunteers and carers. More information about becoming an OzChild carer.

Would you like to look after a child for a weekend, a few days, a few months or longer? Do you work, but still have some time and energy to care for a child?

Learn more...