Queensland Foster Care Campaign Attracts 86 Prospective Households

Brisbane — A foster care recruitment campaign in Queensland has attracted 86 prospective households, with 20 nearing approval and another 66 progressing through training and assessment, as authorities and child welfare organisations seek to address a shortage of safe homes for vulnerable children.

The progress, recorded within 16 weeks of the campaign's launch, comes amid growing demand for out-of-home care across the state, where thousands of children are unable to live with their families.

Figures provided by MacKillop Family Services show that nearly 11,000 Queensland children were living in home-based care as at June 30, 2026, while another 2,800 were in residential care.

Across the Sunshine Coast and Central Queensland, more than 2,000 children and young people were living away from home in home-based care, supported by 1,243 approved foster carer households.

MacKillop, a national child and family welfare organisation, said the recruitment response was encouraging but substantially more foster families were needed.

Its National Leader of Foster Care Development, Jasmine Perry, said the response demonstrated that more Queenslanders were prepared to foster once they understood the requirements and realised they could qualify.

“Queenslanders have always been good at looking after one another, particularly when someone in their community needs a hand,” Perry said.

She said the households approaching authorisation and the prospective carers undergoing assessment represented progress, but warned that the shortage remained urgent.

“The situation is URGENT, these kids need foster carers and many Queenslanders are more eligible to become foster carers than they realise,” she said.

MacKillop is working with the Queensland Government, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community-controlled Organisations and local foster care providers to expand the availability of foster homes, particularly across the Sunshine Coast and Central Queensland.

Perry said misconceptions about eligibility continued to discourage potential carers, with some people assuming they needed to belong to a particular family structure or own their homes to qualify.

“You don’t need to fit some imaginary picture of the perfect foster family.

“You can be single or partnered, in a same-sex or heterosexual relationship, working or retired, renting or owning your home and from any faith or cultural background.

"What matters is whether you can provide a child with safety, stability, patience and care," she said.

She said fostering could also take different forms, including emergency, respite, short-term and long-term arrangements, allowing households to consider commitments suited to their circumstances.

The campaign has also highlighted the experiences of existing foster carers, including Queenslander Remi, who fosters three children with his husband.

Remi said the couple decided to become foster carers after hearing positive experiences from friends who had opened their homes to children in need.

“My husband and I always wanted to have a family and to have a house filled with kids.

"After our friends explained how wonderful their foster care journey had been, we both immediately realised this was our journey to family status,” he said.

He said the couple had received considerable support throughout the process and wanted to share their experience to encourage more people to consider fostering.

“If we can champion one message it’s that becoming a foster carer is life changing in the very best way for the carer and the kids,” he said.

MacKillop has begun a series of regional visits to encourage conversations about fostering, starting in Rockhampton on Monday, followed by Emerald and Gladstone.

Further engagements are scheduled for Gympie on November 24, Maryborough on November 25 and Bundaberg on November 26.

A Sunshine Coast event is planned for December 4, with Queensland Deputy Premier, Jarrod Bleijie, expected to attend.

MacKillop provides recruitment, training, assessment and authorisation services for prospective foster carers in the Sunshine Coast and Central Queensland regions. Once authorised, carers transition to a local foster care service provider for ongoing case management and support.