Carer Assessment and Recruitment

Our Carer Assessment and Recruitment (CAR), or Carer team are the team that will bring you onboard as a carer with WCF, and help you meet your carer requirements after you’ve been authorised. They will guide you through the application and assessment process, including helping you with your application paperwork, running Shared Lives training with you, and answering any questions you may have along the way.

Once you become a WCF carer, the team is there to support you and complete your your annual reviews, facilitating carer training with our other programs, helping with your probity and safety checks.

The team supports with the Permanency teams in finding the right placements for our children and young people and matching them with our carers to ensure a successful placement.

We are a district team with staff sitting in our Nowra and Shellharbour office.

The team are always here to help you on your carer journey.

Carer Training

As mentioned above, the CAR team organise the training for WCF Foster Carers including Shared Lives, Attachment, Regulation, Competency (ARC) and Reportable Conduct training.

Shared Lives Training

Shared Lives is three sessions of training that covers topics including loved by not safe, helping children feel safe, promoting positive behaviour, identity and culture, caring for children is life-changing and being supported.

This is a mandatory training course for all carer applicants, WCF also offers refresher courses for our authorised carers so information is kept up to date in order to continue providing therapeutic and safe care.

Attachment, Regulation, Competency (ARC) Training

ARC is a trauma informed therapeutic model of care that is used across the agency with all carers and staff. The model is built on four key areas; child development, trauma, attachment and resilience.

This training will help you better understand what trauma is, it’s impact on a developing child or young person and how to understand ‘need driving challenging behaviour’. Carers will gain practical skills and strategies to support you in your role and best meet these needs in a trauma informed manner, with the goal of reducing challenging behaviours.

Reportable Conduct Training

WCF provides training to all Carers to support awareness of conduct and behaviour that may meet the threshold for Reportable Conduct. This training aims to increase Carer understanding of the types of behaviour management response or other conduct that may result in reportable allegations, with examples provided.

Carers can also expect to receive training and information on what steps the agency will take if an allegation is made, including who allegations are reported to, what supports are available and what happens during the investigation process.