Permanent care, Foster care and Kinship care place the interests of children first by providing them with safe and nurturing home environments.
Foster care
Foster care is temporary care of children by trained, assessed and accredited foster carers. For more information, see Foster care.
Kinship care
Kinship care is care provided by relatives or a member of a child's social network when a child cannot live with their parents. For more information, see Kinship care.
Permanent care
The department makes decisions about the safety of children, and for a few this sometimes means they are unable to return home to their birth parents or other relatives. In these cases the decision is made for permanent care. For more information, see Permanent care.
Strong carers, stronger children
The department launched Victoria’s strategy to support kinship, foster and permanent carers in October 2019 to drive improved outcomes for children and young people in care. Victoria’s kinship, foster and permanent carers provide essential support to our most vulnerable children and young people and are a fundamental part of the child and families service system. For more information, see Strong carers, stronger children.
Residential care
Residential care is a care placement service for children and young people in the Child protection service system. The majority of residential care homes are operated by Community service organisations. For more information, see Residential care.
Voluntary out-of-home care
Voluntary out-of-home care is where there is no court order requiring a child to live out of their parent's care. For more information, see Voluntary out-of-home care.
Leaving care
We fund support programs designed to help young people who are leaving Victorian care services to adapt to living independently. For more information, see Leaving care.
People who lived in institutional settings before 1990
It is estimated more than 90,000 children were placed in institutional settings in Victoria between 1928 and 1992. People who were in institutional settings as children before 1990 can receive support. For more information, see People who lived in institutional settings before 1990.
Support for home-based carers in Victoria
For more information, see Support for home-based carers in Victoria.
Sexual assault
Sexual assault support services provide direct services for children, young people and adults who have experienced recent or past sexual assault. For more information, see Sexual assault.