Skip links and keyboard navigation
You are here:
- Home
- Child and family
- Our performance
- Ongoing intervention phase
- Adoptions
- Contacts
- Demographics
- Family and household characteristics
- Family Support and Child Protection System Framework
- Family Support Services
- Glossary of terms
- High quality services and improved wellbeing
- Improved safety
- Intake phase
- Investigation and assessment phase
- Ongoing intervention phase (Permanency planning)
- Regional data
- Representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
- Resources and publications
- Summary statistics
- System and Practice Reviews - Child deaths
- Table notes
- Carer families
Carer families
Graphs
Number of approved carer families, by carer type and Indigenous status, Queensland, as at 30 June 2018
| Carer type | Indigenous | Non-Indigenous | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foster carers | 315 | 2648 | 2963 |
| Kinship carers | 230 | 798 | 1028 |
| Provisionally approved carers | 33 | 101 | 134 |
Tables
| Description | Annual | Quarterly |
|---|---|---|
| CF.1: Carer families, by carer type and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, Queensland | Excel Excel | Excel Excel |
| CF.2: Carer families, by carer type and region, Queensland | Excel Excel | Excel Excel |
| CF.3: Carer family commencements, by carer type and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, Queensland | Excel Excel | Excel Excel |
| CF.4: Carer family exits, by carer type and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, Queensland | Excel Excel | Excel Excel |
What role do carers have?
Approved carers play a key role in the child protection system, providing care for children when separation from their family is required to ensure their safety.
The approval of carers is prescribed by the Child Protection Act 1999 and the Child Protection Regulation 2011. There are three types of approved carers:
- foster carers - approved to care for any child or young person in the custody or guardianship of the chief executive (Director-General) of the department
- kinship carers - approved to care for a specific child or children who are members of their extended family or community, or with whom they have a pre-existing significant relationship
- provisionally approved carers - applicants wishing to become approved as kinship or foster carers who initially receive a provisional certificate of approval. An applicant will only be issued with a provisional certificate when they have been provisionally assessed as suitable to care for a particular child.
Why this topic is important
In Queensland, there is a critical need for more foster and kinship carers to allow the department and community fostering agencies to better match the needs of children with suitable carers.
An increased pool of foster carers will ensure more long-term, successful and rewarding placements for children who are unable to live with their own families.
If you are interested in becoming a foster or kinship carer, please call 1300 550 877 or complete an expression of interest.
Trends
As at 30 June 2018, there were 5,241 carer families (3,542 foster carers, 1,569 kinship carers and 130 provisionally approved carers). Overall, the number of carer families has increased, by 0.9 per cent since 30 June 2017 (5,192) and 8.4 per cent since 30 June 2014 (4,833).
Of the 5,241 carer families as at 30 June 2018, 16.4 per cent were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (862) and 83.6 per cent were non-Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (4,379).
The ratio of children and young people in home-based care to the number of carer families was 1.58 as at 30 June 2018.
- Last reviewed
- 2 October 2018
- Last modified
- 12 October 2018
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence