Reference Group

What is the purpose of the reference group?

QFKC believe that Foster and Kinship Carers accounts of their own lived experience is very valuable information that is needed to inform practice and influence policy in the field of Queensland child protection. No other area of the system has a comprehensive understanding of what is involved in providing daily care to a child or young person that is living in a family-based care arrangement. Therefore, QFKC has created the reference group to enable us to draw on the knowledge and experiences that carers must better inform our understanding of what is occurring in the child protection sector from the viewpoint of the people who are volunteering their time, heart and homes to improve the lives of children that can no longer live with their own family.

The reference group is a much-needed source of information that QFKC will draw on to improve advocacy and identify system pressures that are affecting Foster and Kinship Carers. Our aim is to use the data provided by Carers to influence positive changes in the policies and processes that guide child protection practices so that all people providing family-based care are considered as a primary and highly valued member of the out of home sector.

Frequently Asked Questions

The reference group is open to all currently approved Kinship, Foster and Provisionally Approved Carers. The membership to the group is fully voluntary and the level of engagement in activities can be determined by the participants. QFKC endorse actions that promote choice and flexible decision making for Foster and Kinship Carers.

If a reference group member gains a PCO or LTGO for all children in their care, this would result in that person no longer being an approved Kinship or Foster Carer and they would not be able to continue in the reference group
If a reference group member gains a PCO or LTGO for one child and another child in their care has a different order, then this would mean that they are an approved Kinship or Foster Carer and would be able to continue in the reference group
If a reference group member gains a PCO or LTGO and continues to provide short term breaks to other children, this would mean that they are an approved Kinship of Foster Carer and would be able to continue in the reference group.

QFKC will send out an email monthly to keep all members of the reference group updated on current carer retention strategies, upcoming events and information of interest.
When QFKC have developed or is coordinating a strategy that is close to your location you will receive either a separate email or a phone call from the QFKC Retention and Development Officer that provides the details of the event for your consideration. Members have choice over their level of participation and can choose their own level of engagement.
When QFKC has developed targeted surveys in response to the needs that have been identified during carer retention strategies, QFKC will send all members a direct invitation via email, to provide them an opportunity to complete the survey. Members can choose their level of participation and either agree to complete the survey or not.

QFKC will collect and store your information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.

QFKC will gather information obtained through retention strategies for the purpose of analyzing the data to identify themes and patterns that are causing issues or additional pressure impacting on family-based carers.

This data will inform QFKC’s response, and this could include developing a resource for the sector such as new training or guides to improve practice or the information could be used to strengthen the advocacy that QFKC undertakes to enhance the system for Kinship and Foster Carers, this can include -

Informing and educating the child protection sector on what family-based carers are experiencing and what they are reporting about their role in the system.
Advocating for policy and process changes to enhance Kinship and Foster Carer retention and reduce the identified pressure points that family-based carers are experiencing.
Informing QFKC position when responding to Government requests for submission relating to the child protection in general or the QLD out of home care sector.

Foster and Kinship Support Agency	QFKC Reference group
Foster and Kinship Support Agencies will provide Foster and Kinship carers with ongoing support through a range of service and resources. They will respond to Kinship and Foster Carers request for support and will work with child safety to assist and support Kinship and Foster Carers to implement and achieve the agreed goals and outcomes of the children and young people.	QFKC reference group has been structured in a way to enable carers to have a voice and have their views heard through the provision of retention strategies such as surveys or forum groups. QFKC’s reference group is not an area that can provide Kinship or Foster carers with support in their role of providing daily care to children. If you have a complex issue that is not able to be managed through your agency you are able to contact the QFKC on call service on 07 3256 6166 and request to speak with a QFKC case officer.
The Foster and Kinship Support Agency will apply advocacy strategies with child safety relating to specific carer households and cases that they are associated with their service; this is undertaken to promote the delivery of supports and services that are needed in the family-based home to meet the child or children’s needs.	QFKC will use advocacy in a different way, and this is to achieve broader systemic changes. QFKC’s carer retention advocacy strategies will not be specifically targeted at one case or one family-based care experiences. Our aim is to achieve systemic changes to the child protection system that will benefit all carers across the state. QFKC will achieve this through the carer retention initiatives that are generating the data that is collected from the entire reference group, this information will inform the position that QFKC will take and the advocacy strategy that will be used to best effect positive changes for Kinship and Foster Carers and children in care.

Foster and Kinship Support Agency

QFKC Reference group

Foster and Kinship Support Agencies will provide Foster and Kinship carers with ongoing support through a range of service and resources.

They will respond to Kinship and Foster Carers request for support and will work with child safety to assist and support Kinship and Foster Carers to implement and achieve the agreed goals and outcomes of the children and young people.

QFKC reference group has been structured in a way to enable carers to have a voice and have their views heard through the provision of retention strategies such as surveys or forum groups.

QFKC’s reference group is not an area that can provide Kinship or Foster carers with support in their role of providing daily care to children.

If you have a complex issue that is not able to be managed through your agency you are able to contact the QFKC on call service on 07 3256 6166 and request to speak with a QFKC case officer.

The Foster and Kinship Support Agency will apply advocacy strategies with child safety relating to specific carer households and cases that they are associated with their service; this is undertaken to promote the delivery of supports and services that are needed in the family-based home to meet the child or children’s needs.

QFKC will use advocacy in a different way, and this is to achieve broader systemic changes.

QFKC’s carer retention advocacy strategies will not be specifically targeted at one case or one family-based care experiences.

Our aim is to achieve systemic changes to the child protection system that will benefit all carers across the state.

QFKC will achieve this through the carer retention initiatives that are generating the data that is collected from the entire reference group, this information will inform the position that QFKC will take and the advocacy strategy that will be used to best effect positive changes for Kinship and Foster Carers and children in care.

QFKC reference group is an avenue for Kinship and Foster Carers to be given an opportunity to express their views and opinions about their lived experiences providing family-based care to children and young people in the Qld out of home system.

The reference group is not a peer support group and whilst we acknowledge the important of Carers building community with other likeminded people that share similar aspirations for children in care, the reference group cannot function as a peer support group, for several reasons -

The vast area of the regions and the location of all members. The QFKC reference groups have been divided into 4 sections across QLD due to the size of the state. This means that some members would be excluded from interacting in certain activities or opportunities for involvement, simply due to location. QFKC values every Kinship and Foster Carer and will always promote a position of inclusion for all group members.
The reference group has a specific purpose and that is related to the gathering of information for advocacy and resource development that will target Kinship and Foster Carer retention. QFKC believes that introducing peer support activities would dilute the important purpose of this group.
QFKC has only 3 roles devoted to the management of the reference group across the 6 regions in the state. The resources are not available currently to introduce peer support into the reference group activities.
QFKC will have times where it is necessary to bring together Reference Group members to engage in targeted and purposeful discussions in person. This group activity will be managed and guided through by the Retention and Development Officers.

As stated above the reference group is open to any approved and current Kinship, Foster or Provisionally approved carer.

Any person can refer an approved Kinship or Foster Carer to join the reference group. Any approved Kinship and Foster Carer can complete the QFKC Expression of Interest (EOI) found here.

All expression of Interest submitted by Kinship and Foster Carers will be received by QFKC and assigned to one of the Retention and Development Officers in the region that the Carer lives. The Retention and Development officer will contact the Kinship or Foster Carer to explore more information relating to their motivation for joining the group, their preferred type of engagement in retention to activities and to ensure all contact details are correct for future correspondence.

All members can withdraw from the reference group at any time. QFKC will require written notice in the form of an email to notify the intention to withdraw from the reference group. Once the withdrawal notification is received QFKC will remove the member from all future email correspondence associated with the reference group. Resignation from the reference group will not affect any other form of QFKC memberships.