SouthWest and North Coast Region - Foster and Kinship Care Placements

This Request for Quote seeks proposals from suppliers for the support of carers and associated placements currently managed by the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services (DCCSDS) in South West Region (SWR) and North Coast Region (NCR).

Foster and Kinship Care service types sought by this procurement include:

• General Foster and Kinship care placements in SWR in the two catchment areas of Ipswich North, Ipswich South and Springfield Child Safety Service Centres (CSSC) and Toowoomba North and Toowoomba South CSSCs
• A mix of General and High Plus Foster and Kinship care placements in NCR in two catchment areas of Sunshine Coast/ Gympie (Caloundra, Maroochydore and Gympie CSSCs) and Moreton Bay (Strathpine, Redcliffe and Caboolture CSSCs).

Suppliers must deliver Foster and Kinship Care services in accordance with the Child Protection (Placement Services) Investment Specifications which, as of Version 2.0 dated 1 July 2015, require:

• local level recruitment of foster carers and/or identification of kinship carers
• co-delivery (with Child Safety Services) of pre-service training, and ongoing training of carers, including intensive training for carers supporting children with higher level needs
• assessment of carer applicants for approval by Child Safety Services and assessment of carers for renewal of approval by Child Safety Services
• identifying carers that best meet the needs of children and young people referred by Child Safety Services
• ongoing support of carers, including carer learning plans, access to respite, and on-call after-hours support
• identifying carers to provide some short-term emergency placements and support Child Safety Services after-hours access to placements