Foster care 007-07050000

Foster carers may be eligible for:

• Family assistance in relation to the foster child, including Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS). To be eligible, for CCS/ACCS, foster carers must be liable to pay child care fees
• Parental Leave Pay (PPL) in an informal foster care relationship where the child has entered care in exceptional circumstances. PPL is not payable for a formal foster care arrangement unless the child becomes entrusted to the customer's care as part of the adoption process
• A Health Care Card (HCC) for the foster child if not eligible for an automatic HCC with their income support payment or FTB
• An income support payment as a principal carer (Parenting Payment (PP), JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Youth Allowance (YA) or Special Benefit (SpB))

A child is considered to be in foster care if:

• the child is a dependent child of the adult
• the child is not the natural or adopted child of the adult, and
• the adult is responsible for the day-to-day care, health and development of the child

This includes children in formal foster care provided by social welfare authorities or approved agencies (for example, Barnados, Anglicare) and indigenous and other informal care arrangements, for example, care in an extended family, care in inter-family units, care within or arranged by community groups, care outside family, or community groups not arranged by a formal agency.

A foster carer may receive financial assistance from the relevant State or Territory authority. This does not affect eligibility for family assistance. Payments received for a dependent child, including Foster Care Allowance, are considered exempt income under social security law. However, for customers paid under pension transitional rules, the income can reduce their additional income free area amount for the child.

A young person in State care who is not living with a parent may be assessed as independent for Youth Allowance from the age of 15 years. Support from the State or Territory does not affect the person's independent status but will affect the rate of YA payable.