Foster carers need to offer a safe home environment and be able to provide loving and secure relationships.
Foster carers are generally aged between 25 and 70 and can include:
- individuals - male or female
- couples - including same sex couples
- people with their own children
- people who do not have children.
Make sure you talk with everyone living in your home about offering foster care. The whole household will need to meet with the assessment worker and be involved at each step of becoming a foster carer.
Carers don't need to be available full time, so you can combine work and other commitments with being a foster carer.
Personal qualities of a foster carer
Foster carers need to work openly and cooperatively with all people in the child's life.
Carers must be:
- flexible
- able to work in a team
- keen to learn and willing to keep learning
- interested in strengthening a family.
They will learn about and understand the impact of the serious issues that lead to children coming into care. This includes the effects of abuse and neglect.
Foster carer abilities
Carers must be able to:
- accept a child as a member of their family
- care for and nurture the healthy development of a child
- strengthen connections to the birth family
- help transition the child to their next care placement or to return home if it's short term arrangement
- value their role as a member of the child's care team
- advocate for the needs of a child
- know when to ask for help.
Contact
Foster Care Services
Phone 1300 2 367 837
Related information
On this site
Steps to become a foster carer
Other websites
Carers in South Australia - Department for Child Protection
What makes a good foster carer? - Guardian for Children and Young People
