Have you started the process to become a foster carer?
If so, this is a very exciting time in your fostering journey. During this phase of your journey, we’ll work to get to know each other and understand how we can best support you to care for children and young people.
What questions do they ask in a foster parent interview?
The interview process is crucial in the recruitment of all carers. It allows us to understand your suitability to care for young people. This includes understanding if you have what it takes to ensure their safety and to cope with the challenges of caring, especially for children who have a history of trauma or complex needs.
During assessment, we will gather information from you to determine your suitability to care for children and understand how you could manage the range of needs that children in care might have.
When assessing you, we work with the Department of Child Safety. You might expect to be asked questions around:
- your motivation to care for children
- your support and social networks
- your relationships with others
- household safety
- cultural awareness
- your own childhood history
- your parenting style
- your health and wellbeing
- plus, more.
**Note: the below are just example question topics that you may be asked during your foster parent interview. You may also be asked additional questions that are not listed. Please chat to your local Anglicare Southern Queensland foster care team if you require further clarification or assistance.
Personal questions
To help us understand you and your background, we’ll also gather basic information about you, including your:
- name and age
- location and other contact details
- criminal history
- working with children checks (whether you have a Blue Card or would be willing to obtain one)
- relationship status
- career
- religious, spiritual or cultural beliefs and background
- your own children (if you have any) or whether you are currently caring for children
- housing and living arrangements
- driving status.
Parenting related questions in your foster parent interview
To understand your parenting or caring capabilities, we might also ask you questions about:
- your family life growing up and the parenting style of your caregiver(s)
- how your caregiver’s parenting style shaped you
- your relationship with your parents
- childhood memories
- whether you have children and your relationship with them
- your own parenting style
- your philosophy on raising children and shaping their futures
- why you want to foster children.
Being a carer
Some of the essential questions that you may be asked about being a carer or how you might respond to certain situations may include:
- your motivation to want to care
- what your family-life or household looks like and how fostering can fit into it
- your support network
- the type(s) of care that you would be willing to provide
- how safe your household is
- how you would respond to the different needs of children and young people during different situations and circumstances
- certain skills that you possess that would be influential in your ability to care
- cultural capabilities and supporting children who come from different cultural backgrounds. Additionally, we might ask if you’d be willing to undergo further training to support the cultural connections of young people in your care
- responding to, and supporting, children and young people experiencing trauma and complex trauma
- how you would support the children and their birth families to work towards achieving reunification (if that’s achievable)
- how you can be an advocate to children and young people to ensure their voices are heard
- if you have the capacity to support the child’s educational, recreational, cultural, health and social needs.
More information
You may have lots of questions about the process and what you can expect during the assessment stage of your journey. We would recommend downloading and reading our ‘Advice for future foster carers’ eBook, if you haven’t already. This book contains information around the truths of foster care and advice around setting boundaries and having ground rules in your household as a carer.