Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about becoming a foster carer
There are 5 steps to welcoming your first child and/or young person into your home, and OzChild are with you every step of the way.
Learn more about the 5 steps to becoming an OzChild carer.
We guide all our prospective carers through a thorough recruitment process to ensure we provide safe and loving homes for children and young people. Our recruitment process is based on state wide standardised assessment and training guidelines from the Victorian Government.
Foster care is not paid employment. Foster carers receive a tax-free fortnightly carer contribution based on the age of the child to help feed, clothe, educate and meet the needs of the foster child in their care.
Yes. You can work full-time and foster. We tailor our support to ensure your foster care household and child/young person in your care thrives.
Children in foster care need privacy and a place to store their belongings, which means you need to have one spare bedroom in order to become a carer. If you live in a 1-bedroom house or apartment and you’re just wanting to care for little babies, they can sleep in a cot in your bedroom but only up to the age of one.
From the point of enquiry to accreditation as a foster carer, the process can take anywhere between 4 – 7 months.
Case Managers
Our Case Managers provide a holistic approach to the child or young person in your care and all members of your caring household through a care team approach.
The voice of the child is central to what we do: “To tell someone if l am unhappy and have a worker who is there for me” through one on one time between the case manager and child.
Case Managers assess and plan to meet the needs of children and young people through the Looking After Children Framework. This includes overseeing referrals, cultural support planning, promoting contact, court reports, case administration, carer supervision and building relationships with the child and young person.
Carer Support
Our national Thriving Families carer strategy is delivered through portfolio management to continually improve the carer household experience.
Community building, induction processes, resources, training and development, communication, intake and respite, ensures we set all caring households up for success.
This also includes conducting annual reviews and ensuring all compliance checks are up to date and ongoing reviews with carers of placement profile and ‘agreed placement matches’.
We care for children and young people between the ages of 0-18.
We will help you consider the age and needs of the child you feel best match your family, interests, lifestyle and skills to help make the best possible match.
Yes. If you are a single person and have the energy and patience and care about children, you can become a foster carer.
Yes. OzChild welcomes carers from different backgrounds, cultures, religions and same sex relationships.
The aim of foster care is to provide temporary care to a child with the aim of the child returning to their birth family. If the Children’s Court decide the child will not be returning to their family, discussions will occur on a case by case basis as to whether the child moves into a longer-term foster care placement or permanent care.
OzChild recommends that you have finished IVF for at least 12 months before you start the foster care process. This enables you to make the emotional adjustments of not having a child of your own.
Yes. Foster care is a commitment from the whole family, and when you become carers you become a foster care household. We strongly encourage all adults in the household to undertake the Shared Lives training to ensure they feel well prepared and confident for their role as a foster carer.
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