Become a Foster Carer with Berry Street
Partner with Berry Street to provide vital care for children and young people in need. Our comprehensive foster care service offers various types of care, ensuring a nurturing environment for every child.
Foster care is the temporary care of a child or young person (up to 18 years) within a safe and nurturing home environment during a time when they can't live safely at home. It can be for a few days, a few weeks, one weekend a month or for much longer.
Wherever possible, the goal of foster care is to reunify children with their birth families, providing this is in the best interests of the child. Where it is in the best interests of the child, the plan will be to support the birth family so that the child can be safely returned home. If the child isn’t able to return to their birth family, then placement with extended family or community members is the goal.
Foster care is required when there isn’t an extended family member or members of a child’s social network available to provide a home (known as kinship care).
At Berry Street, we welcome carers from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences.
Many of our carers balance foster care with full-time work. Some own their homes, while others rent. You might already be a parent or perhaps your children have grown up and left home. You don't need to have children yourself to become a foster carer, and many child-free individuals choose to foster with Berry Street. Some carers are couples, some are single, and some provide foster care in a multigenerational household.
To be eligible to be a foster carer in Victoria, you must:
- be able to offer a safe, nurturing home environment for a child or young person
- be a minimum of 21 years of age
- have a spare bedroom
- be an Australian citizen or permanent resident (however, non-permanent residents can become foster carers for emergency and respite placements)
- be willing to complete and maintain relevant background compliance checks including a police check and a Working with Children Check
Berry Street foster carers are a member of a team that is committed to supporting the child or young person in their care.
Berry Street foster carers become part of our Carer Village and have the expert support of Berry Street staff, volunteers and the wider carer community.
Support is tailored to the carer based on their needs and the type of care they provide and includes:
- ongoing support from a designated foster care case worker
- carer supervision
- access to specialist training
- financial support in the form of a care allowance
- After-hours on-call support from a designated Berry Street service
- regular foster carer gatherings to promote peer support
- access to the Foster Care Association of Victoria & Carers Assistance program.
If you would like to learn more about becoming a foster carer with Berry Street, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can find lots of information on our website or chat to Jess or Jade in our Foster Care Team.
Berry Street Foster Care Team
Phone: 1800 816 037
Email: fostercare@berrystreet.org.au
Website: Become a foster carer | Berry Street
