Classic form

Foster carer application form for a first enquiry, not an assessment

Becoming a foster carer takes months of assessment, training and home visits, and the form at the front of it only has to work out whether a conversation is worth having. This seventeen field application records the household, the space, the checks already held and the kinds of care a person can realistically offer.

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Apply to foster with Kinship Care Network

This is the first step, not the assessment. Seventeen questions, then a worker calls you within ten working days to talk through what happens next.

About you

Your full name *

Title

First

Middle

Last

Date of birth *

Mobile *

Email *

Where you live, including suburb, state and postcode *

Your household

List everyone who lives at this address, including children and any adult who stays regularly. Every household member over 18 is screened, so a name left off delays the assessment rather than shortening the form.

Everyone living at this address *

#	Full name	Relationship to you	Age	Lives here full time
1
2
3
4
5
6

Bedrooms available for a child, not counting shared or study rooms *

The care you can offer

Types of care you are interested in *

Emergency, a placement at a few hours notice

Respite, a weekend or a week at a time

Short term, weeks to months

Long term, until the child is 18

Kinship care for a child already related to me

Not sure yet, I want to talk it through

Age groups you feel able to care for *

0 to 2

3 to 5

6 to 10

11 to 14

15 to 18

Sibling groups

Checks you already hold

Working with children check number *

Working with children check expiry *

National police check *

I hold one issued in the last 12 months

I hold one, but it is older than 12 months

I have applied and I am waiting

I have not applied yet

Experience and referees

Your experience caring for children, paid or unpaid *

Why you want to foster, in your own words *

Three referees who have known you for at least two years. One may be a relative. They are contacted only after the first call, and they are asked about your household, not about your paperwork.

Referees *

#	Full name	How they know you	Years known	Phone
1
2
3

Declaration

Everything on this form is checked during assessment, including the household list and the checks. A past conviction, a child protection history or a period of homelessness does not automatically rule a person out, and disclosing it here is far better than it surfacing later.

Declaration *

The information I have given is true and complete to the best of my knowledge

I consent to screening checks on me and on every household member over 18

I understand that this application is a first step and not an approval to care for a child

Your signature *

Every field, and what it collects

The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.

Your full nameNameRequired
Date of birthDateRequired
MobileShort textRequired
EmailShort textRequired
Where you live, including suburb, state and postcodeShort textRequired
Everyone living at this addressTableRequired: Columns: Full name · Relationship to you · Age · Lives here full time
Bedrooms available for a child, not counting shared or study roomsNumberRequired
Types of care you are interested inMultiple choiceRequired: Options: Emergency, a placement at a few hours notice · Respite, a weekend or a week at a time · Short term, weeks to months · Long term, until the child is 18 · Kinship care for a child already related to me · Not sure yet, I want to talk it through
Age groups you feel able to care forMultiple choiceRequired: Options: 0 to 2 · 3 to 5 · 6 to 10 · 11 to 14 · 15 to 18 · Sibling groups
Working with children check numberShort textRequired
Working with children check expiryDateRequired
National police checkSingle choiceRequired: Options: I hold one issued in the last 12 months · I hold one, but it is older than 12 months · I have applied and I am waiting · I have not applied yet
Your experience caring for children, paid or unpaidLong textRequired
Why you want to foster, in your own wordsLong textRequired
RefereesTableRequired: Columns: Full name · How they know you · Years known · Phone
DeclarationMultiple choiceRequired: Options: The information I have given is true and complete to the best of my knowledge · I consent to screening checks on me and on every household member over 18 · I understand that this application is a first step and not an approval to care for a child
Your signatureSignatureRequired

What each block of this application collects

The first block is identity and contact, with a full legal name because every check that follows is run against it. The household block is the heart of the form: six rows for everyone at the address with their relationship, age and whether they live there full time, and a bedrooms number that deliberately excludes study and shared rooms, since those are the two rooms people count when they want the answer to be higher. The care block asks what a person can actually offer, with emergency, respite, short term, long term and kinship as separate options plus a not sure yet choice, and an age group list that names sibling groups because keeping siblings together depends on carers volunteering for it. The checks block records what is already held.

The Australian pieces on this form

Fostering is administered by the states and territories, so the checks block asks for the two things every jurisdiction requires in some form: a working with children check with its number and expiry date, and a national police check with a status rather than a number, since many applicants have applied and are waiting. The working with children field accepts the words applied for, because an applicant who has lodged and is waiting should not be blocked by a form. The declaration consents to screening every household member over eighteen, which is the standard requirement across Australian schemes and the reason the household table asks for ages rather than just names.

How to adapt this form

An agency recruiting only respite carers cuts the care types list to one line and adds a weekend availability grid, because respite recruitment lives or dies on which weekends people can take. A kinship care pathway removes the age group tick list entirely, since the child is already known, and replaces it with a relationship to the child field and a question about the current living arrangement. An agency in a state with a different check name changes the two check field labels and nothing else, because the shape of the question, a number plus an expiry plus a status, is the same everywhere.

What makes this form work

The household table asks who lives here full time

Six rows with name, relationship, age and a full time column, so an adult child who stays three nights a week appears rather than being left off. That fourth column is what turns a list of names into the screening list the agency actually has to run.

Care types include not sure yet

Emergency, respite, short term, long term and kinship are real and different commitments, and the sixth option lets somebody say they want to talk it through. That option gets picked often, and it converts far better than forcing a guess that the applicant then feels bound by.

The checks accept an in progress answer

The working with children field takes the words applied for and the police check question offers I have applied and I am waiting. Both reflect how the paperwork actually arrives, and neither turns a form into a dead end for someone who started the process last week.

Questions people ask

Does a foster carer application decide anything?

No. It starts a conversation and nothing more, which is why the thank you screen says a recruitment worker calls within ten working days. Assessment takes months and includes training, home visits, referee interviews and a full screening of every adult in the household. The form exists so that call starts from facts rather than from a blank page.

Why does every adult in the household need a check?

Because a child is placed in a home, not with an individual. Australian schemes screen every household member over eighteen for that reason, and the household table asks for ages so the agency knows who that will be. Leaving an adult off does not avoid the check, it just means the assessment stalls when they are discovered.

Can someone apply while waiting on a working with children check?

Yes. The field accepts the words applied for, because the check can take weeks and the recruitment conversation does not have to wait for it. The police check question has a waiting option for the same reason. Blocking an application on a document that is already in progress loses good carers for no benefit.

How many bedrooms does a foster carer need?

Requirements vary by state and by the age of the child, so the form asks for a number rather than applying a rule. It excludes study and shared rooms because those are the two answers that inflate the count, and a worker discusses the real arrangement on the call. A carer offering respite only often needs less space than one offering long term care.

Will a past conviction rule someone out?

Not automatically, and the paragraph above the declaration says so plainly. Some offences are absolute barriers and most are not. What does end an application reliably is a history that the agency finds during screening after the applicant chose not to mention it, which is why the declaration asks for true and complete rather than for a clean record.

Why ask why you want to foster in a long text box?

Because it is the answer a recruitment worker reads before making the call, and it cannot be produced by a tick list. The placeholder says there is no right answer and that a person reads it, which is true and which measurably improves what people write. It is also the field that makes an applicant stop and decide whether they are ready.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 12 September 2026.