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Foster care

• About foster and kinship care
  • What is foster care?
  • What is kinship care?
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  • Provisionally approved carers
  • Specialist foster care
  • Non family-based care
• Becoming a carer
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• Carer training
  • Foster carer training
    • Foreword
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    • Frequently asked questions
    • Orientation
    • Learning outcomes
    • Pre-service training
    • Learning journal
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    • Advanced training
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    • Forms and templates
  • Kinship carer training
• Support for carers
  • Carer handbook
  • Federal Government allowances and benefits
  • Foster and kinship care support line
  • Foster and Kinship Carer Card
    • Business Discount Directory
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    • ADSS Shopper
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  • Financial support
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• Rights and responsibilities
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  • Long-term guardianship
  • Placement Agreements
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• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
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  • Community foster care agencies
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  • Foster and Kinship Carer Card contacts
• Library

Advanced training

Advanced training is flexible and based on the foster carer's specific learning needs.

In conjunction with support, our department or licensed care service, where applicable, will update the carer's learning plan, as part of the process of regular review of the Foster Carer Agreement.

As of 1 January 2007, carers are required to complete four advanced training modules every two years as a requirement for renewal of authority.

Advanced modules may be provided by the department or licensed care service and may also be accessed externally from a range of agencies within the community, for example, other government departments, attendance at a conference, etc.

Training modules

• Attachment
• Foster Parent College
• I'm an individual...
• Independence and connections
• Infectious diseases
• Loss and grief for children in care
• Participation
• Protective behaviours series
• Ready, set, fly! A parent's guide to teaching life skills
• Reality fostering
• Seen but not heard: children who live with domestic and family violence
• Strategies for Managing Abuse Related Trauma (SMART)
• Whose job is this?
• Whose problem is this?

External advanced training

Carers who require specialised skills to provide care for a specific child or young person can access funds for external advanced training.

These funds are available for training that cannot that be accessed through existing advanced training options. The training need must be documented in a Foster Carer Agreement or Placement Agreement. For further information, refer to Process for accessing external advanced training (PDF 23 KB).

Departmental staff or non-government foster and kinship care services may apply for funding for particular carers by submitting an Application for external advanced training (Word 236 KB) to the relevant child safety service centre manager.

The criteria for externally accessed advanced modules are as follows:

• content must be relevant to the foster carer's learning plan
• module must be a minimum of two hours duration
• must be developed and delivered by a person with recognised expertise in the content area
• should be based on clear competencies, upon which the carer is assessed and provided with written acknowledgement of completion. Where this is not possible, the carer should be able to identify with their support worker ways in which the training will assist them in their role.

If you are a foster or kinship carer who would like to access external advanced training, contact your support worker from your child safety service centre or foster and kinship care service.

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Last updated

16 September 2008