What types of situations require crisis care?

Crisis care is needed when a child must be urgently removed from their home due to safety concerns, neglect, family violence, or other crisis situations. Placements can happen anytime, often with limited information. The aim is to provide a safe, stable home until a longer-term plan is made.

How quickly are placements made?

Placements are made as quickly as possible to ensure the child's safety and wellbeing. Often carers are contacted and asked to receive a child with only a few hours' notice. Anglicare works with both speed and care to match children with available carers who can meet their immediate needs.

What kind of support is available?

Crisis carers are supported every step of the way. This includes 24/7 phone assistance, access to case managers and specialist staff, emotional and practical support services, and opportunities to connect with other carers. Ongoing training is also available to help you feel prepared and confident in your role.

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Become a Foster Carer for Crisis Care

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Be there when a child needs you most.

Every week, Anglicare Sydney receives over 100 requests to provide a safe home for a child in need. These children are often removed from their homes due to safety concerns, requiring immediate placement in a safe and stable environment. As a crisis carer, you can offer a child the security and compassion they need during these critical moments.

Anglicare equips you with comprehensive training, 24/7 support, and a dedicated team to guide you every step of the way. You don't need to be perfect – just present, willing, and ready to make a difference.

Understanding urgent Foster Care needs

Crisis care: responding to immediate situations

Crisis care involves providing a safe and stable place for a child who has been removed from their home due to safety concerns such as domestic violence, illness or an unsafe environment. These placements can occur at any time of the day or night and may last from a couple of nights to a few weeks.

Emergency newborn Foster Care

In some cases, newborns require immediate placement directly from the hospital due to various circumstances. Emergency newborn foster carers provide the essential care and nurturing these infants need during their first days.

The role of a crisis foster carer

Providing immediate safety and stability

In a time of crisis, your calm and care can bring a child peace. You offer more than shelter. You can offer safety, kindness and stability when it's needed most. Your home becomes a refuge. And your presence shows a child they are not alone.

Working with children in crisis

Children entering crisis care may have experienced neglect, abuse or other challenges, and some may have complex needs due to disability, developmental delay or difficult life circumstances. As a carer, you don't need to have all the answers. What matters is your willingness to be patient, flexible and teachable.
Anglicare provides training in trauma-informed care and practical strategies to help you support children through uncertain or distressing situations. You'll learn how to create a calm, structured environment and respond to each child's unique needs with compassion and care.

Collaborative support and teamwork

You won't be doing this alone. Anglicare surrounds you with a dedicated support team including case managers, healthcare professionals and education specialists who work with you to care for each child. Crisis carers also receive additional support, including 24/7 phone assistance and more frequent check-ins.
You'll be able to connect with a wider network of fellow foster carers too. These are people who understand what it's like and are there to walk alongside you.

Caring for children in crisis is not easy, but you will be supported every step of the way.

Be there when a child needs you most - Contact Us now

The crisis foster carer application process

Becoming a crisis foster carer follows the same application process as any other type of foster care. Each stage is designed to prepare and equip you so that you feel confident and supported when welcoming a child into your home at short notice.

Required training and preparation

Anglicare's Prepare to Care training course, which is a combination of self-paced online modules and a one day in person training, gives you tools to help you care for children in crisis. You'll learn about:

Supporting children who have experienced trauma
Responding to challenging behaviours
Different placement types
Working with Anglicare's team and support systems

After you've completed the initial training, you'll have access to ongoing courses and resources to help you grow in confidence and care.

Learn more about the Application Process

Support for crisis foster carers

Crisis care can be intense and unpredictable, but you won't face it alone. Anglicare surrounds every carer with wrap-around support to help you feel equipped and connected.
From your first placement to the moments in between, you'll be part of a caring community that's with you every step of the way.

24/7 on-call assistance

When a child in crisis arrives at your home, you need to know someone's there for you. Anglicare provides 24/7 on-call support, so help is always just a phone call away. Whether you have questions in the moment or need guidance after hours, you'll never be left to navigate it alone.

Specialised training and resources

Our crisis carers receive extra resources tailored to the unique challenges of short-term and crisis care. This includes optional training modules, tip sheets and practical guides.

Emotional and practical support

Caring for children in crisis can be emotionally demanding, which is why Anglicare offers support for the whole journey. You'll have access to peer networks and connection with other carers, as well as counselling and emotional support services.

Learn more about Anglicare’s support for foster carers

Be there when a child needs you most - Enquire now

Frequently asked questions about crisis Foster Care

Anglicare acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the original and ongoing custodians of the lands and waters on which we live and work.

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.