Continuing on as a foster or kinship carer - the renewal process

All foster and kinship carers need to remain approved to provide care to children. You will initially be approved as a carer for 12 months (or up to 12 months for a kinship carer). If your approval is renewed, it will be for a further 3 years (or up to 3 years for a kinship carer). The date of expiry can be found in the certificate of approval you received.

To keep your approval current, you must apply for renewal of your certificate before the current certificate of approval expires, and then every 3 years after that.

You will receive a letter from Child Safety inviting you to renew your certificate of approval. You are likely to receive this reminder about 3 months before your current approval expires.

What the renewal process involves

It is important that you submit your application to renew your certificate of approval before the expiry date of your current approval. If you don’t do this, your approval will lapse from the expiry date and you cannot continue to care for children.

The renewal process is similar to the initial application process and requires:

• completion of an Application for Renewal or Approval Form 3B (PDF) or (DOCX)
• completion of an Addendum for Additional Household Member - Form 3C, where you have more than two current household members in your home.
• an assessment of the application, including your participation in assessment interviews and a Household Safety Study
• confirmation of training for foster carers (where this is mandatory)
• completion of personal history checks, including child protection history, domestic and family violence history and traffic history
• a thorough assessment that will make a recommendation to approve or refuse your application
• a decision about your approval or refusal by Child Safety
• the issuing of a new Certificate of Approval.

If you no longer want to be a carer

If you don’t wish to renew your approval, then let Child Safety or your agency know this in writing, as soon as possible. This will allow us time to make alternative living arrangements for the child in your care.

Queensland Foster and Kinship Care will be in touch with you to ask about your experience while you were a foster or kinship carer. Your feedback is very important and will help inform improvements to the care system.