Training and Preparation for Foster Carers
You don't need experience to begin your foster care journey. What matters most is your openness, your willingness to learn, and your desire to offer safety and stability to a child. Anglicare provides structured, supportive foster care training that helps you understand what children may need and builds your confidence step by step. You are never expected to navigate this alone—your learning is supported from the first enquiry onward.
What is pre-placement training?
Before becoming an approved foster carer, everyone completes pre-placement foster care training. This preparation helps you understand the experiences of children entering care and equips you with practical tools for creating safety, predictability, and connection at home.
This training is interactive and intentionally paced to help you feel equipped rather than overwhelmed.
Anglicare's pre-placement training program includes:
- "Prepare to Care" online modules (self-paced)
- A full-day, face-to-face workshop with trainers from across Anglicare's specialist teams and hearing from experienced carers
Each component builds your knowledge and confidence before you welcome a child into your home.
What you'll learn
Training is centred around helping you understand:
- Trauma, healing, and how children communicate through behaviour
- How to create safety, structure, and routine
- Working alongside birth families in a respectful and supportive way
- Boundaries, rights, and responsibilities as a foster carer
- How Anglicare supports you through casework, clinical care, and ongoing guidance
The goal is to strengthen your capacity and sense of readiness, not to test you or expect perfection.
How the training is delivered
To make training accessible and achievable, Anglicare offers:
- Online modules you can complete in your own time
- A one-day in-person workshop at our Telopea training rooms
- Regional training delivered locally, where possible, by appointment
This blended approach ensures that every carer receives high-quality preparation, whether you live in metropolitan Sydney or regional NSW.
Who facilitates the training?
Our foster care training is delivered by experienced trainers from across Anglicare's specialist teams, drawing on a broad range of professional expertise and practice knowledge. Each session is thoughtfully designed to equip prospective carers with a strong foundation in trauma-informed care, child wellbeing, and the realities of fostering. Foster carers regularly attend training sessions to share their lived experiences, offering practical insight and honest reflection on what fostering can look like day to day.
When training is delivered regionally, the composition of trainers may vary, ensuring that local knowledge and diverse perspectives are woven into each program. Together, this approach creates a supportive, informative, and realistic learning environment for those exploring foster care.
Why this training matters
Pre-placement training gives you time to reflect, build confidence, and understand the needs of children entering foster care. Many carers say it was the moment they moved from "I hope I can do this" to "I can see how this will work in my home."
The aim is not to create experts, but to equip you with the understanding, skills, and support you need.
Ongoing support and development
Your journey doesn't end at approval
Foster care involves continuous learning. As children grow and seasons change, new questions naturally arise. That's why Anglicare offers ongoing training for foster carers, ensuring you feel supported at every step.
Types of ongoing support
Your ongoing development may include:
- Foundations of Therapeutic Parenting
- Circle of Security
- Advanced workshops (e.g., adolescence, mental health, cultural care)
- Practice-specific learning when new needs emerge
- Carer support groups and events
- Regular check-ins from your caseworker
Each piece is designed to build capacity over time, not all at once.
Building confidence through continuous learning
Children’s needs evolve, and so will your skills. Ongoing learning helps you:
Carers often find these training opportunities reassuring and affirming, especially through more complex moments.
Who to contact for ongoing support
Your Anglicare case manager and the Clinical Care Team are your first point of contact for additional training or support.
You can also explore more resources on our main Foster Care Support page.
Thinking about fostering?
FAQs About Foster Care training
Inspired by the gospel of reconciliation in Jesus Christ, Anglicare's vision for reconciliation is a nation in which Australia's First Peoples are restored in dignity, respect, empowerment and opportunity.