What qualities are we looking for in our foster carers?
Carers do not have to be super parents. But they do need to be nurturing, tolerant and provide consistent care in suitable housing.
Foster carers can be from all walks of life. We welcome couples, families, singles, married, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, defacto, LGBTIQ, and all religions and cultures.
Unemployed, retired, casual, part time and full time workers are all accepted, as long as they can provide adequate time to the child and are financially stable.
Our foster carers...
- Are everyday families, singles or couples, same sex couples, with or without children.
- Enjoy children and can offer a stable and caring environment.
- Have patience, flexibility, persistence, and a sense of humour.
- Are in good physical and emotional health.
- Work closely with our agency workers, as part of a professional team.
- Attend regular training.
- Have time to meet the daily needs of a child.
- Recognise the importance of a child's birth family and are supportive in maintaining connections with families and kin.
- Have come to foster care for many different reasons including infertility, unsuccessful IVF, desire to grow a family, desire to support the community.
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Todd and Rachel's experience about fostering
Todd and Rachel on finding them themselves in the world of foster care - “It's a fantastic thing to do to create a family. It's an alternative way to help somebody and I guess selfishly it was our way to start a family. Fostering was totally an alien concept until we sat down and we thought, 'what are our options to start a family?'. It's one of the hardest and one of most rewarding things we've ever done. I foster because I love it,” says Todd … read more |
To be eligible you must meet the following requirements:
- Be over 21 years of age for short term care programs, or 25 years of age for permanent care programs.
- Undertake the required medical checks throughout the assessment process.
- Provide acceptable accommodation for the child – this means an adequately sized private bedroom. House safety assessments will be completed.
- If you have undertaken fertility treatment, you must have finished your involvement with a fertility program for a period of time adequate to allow for processing of associated grief and loss.
- You must be prepared to participate in mandatory training, assessment and background checks.
- You must disclose if you have previously applied with other agencies.
- Although you do not need any formal carer qualifications, you do need to possess caring qualities.
- Be a non-smoker - ACT Together only accepts applications from non-smokers and your house must be a smoke free household.
If you have any questions or would like to enquire about becoming a foster carer call us on 1300 WEFOSTER or fill out our carer enquiry form.
