The Kalwun Kinship and Foster Care service recruits, trains and assesses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers.
We aim to place Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with culturally-appropriate carers, ensuring they remain connected with their cultural identity and retain relationships with their families and communities.
The service monitors the placement of children and provides ongoing support to Kinship and Foster Carers.
What is Kinship Care?
Kinship Care is the nurturing and protection of children by relatives or any adult who has a kinship bond with the child. A Kinship Carer may be another Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person who is a member of their community, a compatible community or from the same language group.
What is the Keeping KINnected program?
The Keeping KINnected program works in partnership with Child Safety, SE Region Placement Services Unit and the Finding Kin team to identify long-term kinship placements for children and young people in residential care.
The primary goal is to connect our jarjums, young people, families and community to be able to provide safe and stable long-term care options in accordance with the Child Placement Principles five core elements; Prevention, Partnership, Placement, Participation and Connection, whilst striving to reduce the number of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children in residential care.
Eligibility
Carers can be single, divorced, married, unmarried couples or a relative (kin) e.g. an aunty, uncle or grandparent. They can be young adults, middle aged or an Elder, have several or no children and can hold full-time or part-time employment.
Carers must reflect the following legislative requirements for eligibility:
- Must be 18 years of age.
- Must be willing to undergo a suitability assessment (conducted by Central Screening Unit) in regards to the applicant's child protection and personal history.
- Must be willing and able to complete pre-service training and additional training if required to meet the individual needs of any children placed in their care.
Relevant documents
Privacy, confidentiality and sharing information
Complaints and Grievances form
Accessing the service
If you are interested in becoming a foster carer or are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander carer and are looking for an agency in the Gold Coast area, please call our team on (07) 5520 8600 or simply fill out the online form below and a member of our team will contact you.
