Resources and publications

Forms and templates

• Licensing forms and templates
• Missing child checklist ((PDF, 196 KB)) Missing child checklist ((DOC, 883 KB))

Guides and manuals

• Queensland Care Services Outcome Framework ((PDF, 1.2 MB)) Queensland Care Services Outcome Framework ((DOCX, 2.2 MB))
• Incident management for residential care services ((PDF, 788 KB)) Incident management for residential care services ((DOCX, 473 KB)) - to provide high level guidance to residential care services regarding incident management. This document supports the use of the Incident reporting guide for residential care services and should also inform and support the procedures of residential care services.
• Incident reporting guide for residential care services ((PDF, 513 KB)) Incident reporting guide for residential care services ((DOCX, 41 KB)) - to support residential care services to appropriately report incidents. This includes determining the types of incidents which should be reported to the department and the associated reporting timeframes.
• Practice Guidelines, Reducing Preventable Police Call-outs to Residential Care Services Guide 1 ((PDF, 1.3 MB)) Practice Guidelines, Reducing Preventable Police Call-outs to Residential Care Services Guide 1 ((DOCX, 1.1 MB)) - to support residential care workers prevent and respond to day to day incidents and episodes.
• Practice Guidelines, Reducing Preventable Police Call-outs to Residential Care Services Guide 2 ((PDF, 781 KB)) Practice Guidelines, Reducing Preventable Police Call-outs to Residential Care Services Guide 2 ((DOCX, 7.8 MB)) - to support residential care providers through planning and reviewing of practices.
• Licensing guides and manuals
• Reporting missing children: Guidelines for approved carers and care services ((PDF, 388 KB)) Reporting missing children: Guidelines for approved carers and care services ((RTF, 1.9 MB)) - to support approved foster and kinship carers and staff in care services when responding to situations where a child in out-of-home care is missing from where they live. The guidelines are also relevant to carers who are subsequently granted long term guardianship of the child under the Child Protection Act 1999.

Kinship care practice skills development workshop

The Kinship care practice skills development workshop materials are available for use by departmental staff and foster and kinship care service staff to promote and support quality practice with kinship carers.

The purpose of the Kinship care workshop is to develop the knowledge and skills of Child Safety officers and foster and kinship care service staff to enable them to:

• articulate and understand the benefits of kinship care
• articulate and understand the challenges for kinship carers
• engage in a strength-based partnership with kinship carers whilst keeping the child in focus.

The workshop was developed in consultation with departmental staff, kinship carers, Queensland Foster and Kinship Care, Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak and foster and kinship care service staff. Workshop materials include Facilitator notes, PowerPoint presentation and Activity handouts.

• Facilitator notes ((PDF, 751 KB)) Facilitator notes ((RTF, 266 KB))
• PowerPoint presentation ((PDF, 1.1 MB)) PowerPoint presentation ((RTF, 143 KB))
• Activity handouts ((PDF, 296 KB)) Activity handouts ((RTF, 84 KB))

Download the complete workshop: Kinship care ((ZIP, 1.5 MB))

Policies and procedures

The following documents have been developed for internal use by the department in responding to critical incidents, however funded non-government organisations are expected to comply with the intent of this policy in line with their requirements under the Human Services Quality Framework.

• Critical incident reporting policy ((PDF, 144 KB)) Critical incident reporting policy ((DOC, 453 KB))
• Critical incident types ((PDF, 138 KB)) Critical incident types ((DOCX, 294 KB))

Websites

• Australian Childhood Foundation - aims to strengthen community responsibility for promoting the well-being and protection of children throughout Australia.
• Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal - for matters relating to children and young people - QCAT looks again at decisions made by the department about children. If a child or young person feels the decision is wrong, they can talk to the department about their concerns and ask why they made the decision and may be able to work things out.
• The Office of the Public Guardian - promotes and protects the rights, interests and wellbeing of all Queenslanders under 18.
• Community Door - an initiative of the department and contains general tools, resources and information that can help non-government organisations manage the different aspects of their organisation and also provides an online forum to support information sharing and collaboration across non-government organisations.
• CREATE Foundation - connects and empowers children and young people in care and improves the care system through activities, programs, training and policy advice.
• Queensland Foster and Kinship Care - supports carers.
• The department - Queensland Government agency committed to promoting and supporting excellence in the delivery of human services to Queenslanders.
• Developing your organisation - the Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has secured funding to update the 'Developing your organisation' support material for community-based organisations. The resource covers such areas as legal issues, insurance, strategic planning, risk management, service agreements and volunteer liability. There are also other resources to support community-based organisations, which include:
  • Secretary's handbook
  • Incorporated associations manual
  • Reform of Queensland Associations Act, etc.
• Funding websites
• National Association for Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) - national organisation focused on promotion and primary prevention of child abuse and neglect.
  • Child Friendly Australia - social change initiative of NAPCAN.
• National Child Protection Clearinghouse - Australian Institute of Family Studies advisory and research unit focused on the prevention of child abuse and neglect and associated family violence.

• Ask Izzy is a free, online community services directory for parents, young people and families who are having tough times, to find help in their local area. This could be as simple as finding a mother's group to needing support for cyber bullying, financial stress, homelessness, domestic violence, and more.

• Our Community - a one-stop-gateway for practical resources, support and linkages between community organisations and the general public, business and government.
• Queensland Government Grants - provides a variety of ways to find Queensland Government grants.