What is long-term foster care?
Long-term foster care provides children with a stable and caring home for an extended period, sometimes until they reach adulthood. It offers security and consistency, ensuring that children in care have the opportunity to develop strong relationships, experience a sense of belonging, and build a bright future.
Children in long-term care often come from challenging backgrounds, and your role as a carer is to provide emotional support, encouragement, and guidance to help them heal and thrive. You’ll become a vital part of their life, offering love, stability, and the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Almost anyone is eligible to foster a child. Take our quiz to find out if you are eligible.
The goals of long-term foster care
Every child deserves a safe and loving home. Long-term foster care aims to provide:
- Stability and security: A consistent, nurturing environment that allows children to form lasting connections and feel safe.
- Emotional and social development: Support for children to build confidence, self-worth, and positive relationships.
- Educational and personal growth: Encouragement to reach their potential, pursue their interests, and develop life skills.
- Ongoing connection with family and culture: When appropriate, children maintain connections with their birth families, communities, and cultural heritage.
As a long-term foster carer, you’re not just providing a home – you’re giving a child the support they need to heal and thrive.
How is long-term foster care different from adoption?
Long-term foster care and adoption both provide stability, but they differ in key ways. In foster care, legal responsibility for the child remains with the Department of Child Safety, and birth families may still be involved in their lives. Adoption, on the other hand, permanently transfers parental rights and responsibilities to the adoptive family.
Foster carers work as part of a team, collaborating with caseworkers, teachers, and other professionals to support the child. While adoption is a lifelong legal commitment, long-term foster care focuses on providing a child with security and belonging while keeping connections to their biological family where possible.
How to become a long-term foster carer
Becoming a long-term foster carer is a rewarding journey, and we’re here to support you through every step. The process includes:
- Expression of interest: Submit your details to start your foster care journey.
- Training and assessment: Participate in training sessions to prepare for the role.
- Home assessment: Ensure your home is a safe, welcoming environment for a child.
- Approval and matching: Once approved, we work with you to find the right child for your family.
Support for long-term carers
Fostering a child is a significant commitment, but you won’t be doing it alone. Anglicare Southern Queensland provides comprehensive support, including:
- 24/7 on-call assistance – Support when you need it, day or night
- Dedicated caseworkers – Ongoing guidance and advice from experienced professionals
- Training and development – Access to workshops, courses, and learning opportunities
- Financial support – Carer allowances to help cover the costs of raising a child
- Peer support networks – Connect with other foster carers for advice and encouragement.
We ensure you have everything you need to provide the best possible care for the child in your home.
Who is eligible to become a foster carer?
Resources
Are you Eligible?
Almost anyone can become a foster carer. Take our Quiz to find out if you’re eligible.
Start Your Journey
Start your foster care journey. Complete our expression of interest to apply to become a foster carer.
10 Facts About Foster Care
There are a lot of foster care myths out there, but what are the facts? Our guide helps you understand.
Foster Care for Families Guide
Fostering is a family commitment and this eGuide supports open conversation about whether fostering is suitable for your family.
Advice for Future Foster Carers
Becoming a foster carer is a pretty incredible thing to do. Enjoy these supportive words and advice from foster carers.
Foster Care Information Kit
There is no right or wrong journey to becoming a foster carer, only your journey. We’re here to help you along that path.
Hear from long-term carers
Fostering is life-changing for you and the child in your care. Here are some real stories from our long-term carers about the incredible bonds they’ve built and the difference they’ve made.
Start your foster care journey today
Becoming a long-term foster carer is an opportunity to change a child’s life forever. If you’re ready to take the first step, express your interest or contact us at 1300 000 828.
Frequently asked questions
What is long-term foster care?
Long term placements are for children who are unable to return to live with their families. Carers provide a safe and supportive environment where children can be themselves and feel comfortable in their new home. Children can stay in long term placement until they are 21 years old and start adulthood. Other types of foster care include, emergency care, respite care and short-term care.
Why choose Anglicare Southern Queensland?
Our person-centred approach means we work with you to find out how foster caring can fit with your lifestyle. We connect with you at every stage of your foster care journey, supporting and connecting you to training so you will have the skills you need to be a great carer. We also offer resources and access to wider community groups.
What is the role of the Foster Care Case Practitioner?
If you decide to take the foster care journey, a Foster Care Case Practitioner will be with you every step of the way. The role of a Case Practitioner is to recruit, train, assess, and support foster carers.
Case Practitioners are also responsible for matching children with an appropriate foster family. Case Practitioners are part of a wider team who also provide intensive support to children and carers.
Who can be a foster carer?
Almost anyone who wants to make a difference in a child’s life can become a foster carer.
To be eligible to apply, you’ll need to be at least 18 years of age. You also need to commit to home safety and personal background checks, as well as foster care training, so you have the skills you need to be a great carer.
Many people rule themselves out and think they can’t apply. It doesn’t matter if you are single, male or female, in a same sex partnership, have other children at home or no children at all. What matters is your passion to make a difference.
What is Anglicare’s purpose?
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We’ve been caring for Queenslanders for over 150 years
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We connect with people at every stage of life and respond with compassion and humility
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Our team is experienced, dedicated and equipped to help
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We advocate to inform positive social change
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Our vision is to create a more loving, just and inclusive society.
Contact Us
Submit this form or call us to learn more about foster care at Anglicare. Our team is available between 9am and 5pm weekdays on 1300 000 828
Foster & Kinship Care Enquiry
Got questions?
If you have questions about becoming a foster carer, please call us or download our comprehensive guide.