Can foster carers travel interstate with a child?
Usually yes, but not without approval. A foster or kinship carer does not hold parental responsibility for a child in out of home care, so overnight interstate travel generally needs consent from the child protection agency or the department. Day trips over the border are often allowed if you tell your caseworker. The exact rule depends on your state and the child's court order.
Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW)
NSW Government, A quick guide to decision making for foster and kinship carers
Victorian Child Protection Manual, Interstate and international travel
Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic)
Why approval is needed
When a child is in statutory out of home care, parental responsibility usually sits with the Minister, the Secretary or the chief executive of the child protection department, not with the carer. In New South Wales this comes from the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998, in Victoria from the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005, and in Queensland from the Child Protection Act 1999. Carers are delegated day to day decisions, but taking a child out of the state for more than a day is treated as a significant decision. Approval protects the child, keeps family contact arrangements on track and makes sure everyone knows where the child is if something goes wrong.
How it works in practice
In New South Wales, the DCJ decision making guide says a carer can arrange local or interstate travel of one day or less and simply inform the caseworker. Interstate travel for more than one day, or any overseas travel, goes through the caseworker to DCJ for consent. In Victoria, the Child Protection Manual requires written approval from a team manager for interstate travel, with more senior sign off and sometimes parental consent for children on family reunification orders. Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the other states and territories each have their own procedures, so ask your agency early rather than close to the trip.
What to do before you book
Tell your caseworker as soon as a trip is planned and put the request in writing with dates, destination, who is travelling and how the child will be contacted. Check whether family contact visits fall during the trip and whether they need to be rescheduled. Ask what to carry, such as a copy of the authorisation letter, Medicare details and any medication plan. Overseas travel is a separate and higher level of approval and passports are normally handled by the agency, not the carer. If a trip is refused, ask for the reasons and whether a shorter or later trip could be approved instead.
Guardianship and permanent care are different
The approval rules above apply while the state holds parental responsibility. If you hold a guardianship order in New South Wales, a permanent care order in Victoria or a long term or permanent guardianship order in Queensland, parental responsibility has been transferred to you and you can normally decide on interstate travel yourself, subject to any conditions in the order about family contact. Adoptive parents decide as any parent would. If you are not sure which order applies, check the court order or ask your caseworker, because the same child can move from one type of order to another over time and the decision making rules change with it.
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