ACT Together Foster Care: What Changed After December 2024

If you have been researching foster care in Canberra for more than a few months, you may have come across the name "ACT Together" — and then found it hard to locate current information about how to contact them. There is a reason for that. ACT Together no longer exists as an operational entity. The consortium formally concluded on 31 December 2024, and the ACT out-of-home care system has since moved to a different structure.

This post explains what ACT Together was, why it ended, and what prospective foster carers in the ACT need to know about the current system.

What ACT Together Was

ACT Together was a consortium established in 2016 under the ACT Government's A Step Up for Our Kids reform strategy. It was led by Barnardos Australia in partnership with OzChild and the Australian Childhood Foundation.

The consortium model was deliberately centralized. It created a single point of entry for foster and kinship care in the Territory — instead of multiple agencies competing for carers, all enquiries, assessments, and placements flowed through one coordinated structure. For a small jurisdiction like the ACT, this had advantages: consistent standards, a unified therapeutic approach, and a single contact number for prospective carers to call.

For eight years, if you wanted to become a foster carer in Canberra, you contacted ACT Together. The question was never "which agency?" — there was only one.

Why the Consortium Model Ended

The ACT Together contract was always time-limited. The A Step Up for Our Kids strategy that established it ran from 2015 to 2021, and the consortium continued under transitional arrangements until the end of 2024.

The successor strategy — Next Steps for Our Kids 2022–2030 — takes a different approach to service delivery. Rather than consolidating everything through one consortium, the new framework operates a Children, Young People and Families Preferred Provider Panel. This is a panel of pre-approved organizations that can be engaged by the ACT Government to deliver out-of-home care services.

The reasoning behind the change reflects broader sector thinking: a single-consortium model creates a large, difficult-to-replace dependency. A panel model distributes that risk and theoretically creates conditions for agencies to innovate and specialize.

What the Current Structure Looks Like

As of January 2025, three agencies operate as the core providers of foster and kinship care services in the ACT:

Barnardos Australia — the largest and most established provider in the ACT, Barnardos carries the institutional knowledge from the ACT Together years. They continue to operate with a therapeutic, trauma-informed framework, and maintain their policy of requiring non-smoking households. Age threshold for applicants: 25 years or older.

OzChild — operates independently following the consortium's conclusion, with its own intake, assessment, and carer support processes. Age threshold: 21 years or older. OzChild has historically had strength in therapeutic therapeutic and specialist placements.

Key Assets Australia — a newer entrant to the ACT market compared to the other two, Key Assets has been building its carer base in the Territory. They operate under the same regulatory framework but bring a different organizational culture.

All three agencies are regulated by the ACT Government through the Community Services Directorate (CSD). They are all required to meet the Children and Young People Care and Protection Organisation Standards 2025, which sets consistent quality and safety benchmarks across providers.

What This Means for Prospective Carers

The most significant practical change is that you now choose an agency. Under ACT Together, there was no choice. Under the current model, you need to decide which organization is the right fit for your household, your values, and your practical circumstances.

The agencies differ in several ways that are worth investigating:

Culture and therapeutic approach: Barnardos has a long track record in the ACT and is associated with a highly structured therapeutic model. Key Assets is sometimes described as having a more agile, community-focused approach. OzChild has depth in specialist placements for children with complex needs.

Entry requirements: Age thresholds differ (21 vs 25). Smoking policies differ — Barnardos requires non-smoking households; other agencies have their own policies.

Support structures: Carer support workers, on-call arrangements, and training programs vary between agencies. Ask specifically about 24/7 on-call availability and average carer-to-caseworker ratios when you attend information sessions.

Placement types available: Not all agencies have the same mix of emergency, short-term, long-term, respite, and specialist placements available in the ACT. If you have a preference for the type of care you want to provide, discuss this early.

The ACT is a small city. All three agencies will be conducting assessments in the same geographic area and supporting placements at the same schools, medical practices, and community services. But the experience of being a carer supported by Barnardos versus Key Assets can be meaningfully different, and it is worth spending time at each agency's information session before committing.

The Institutional Knowledge Question

One concern that emerged in the early months of the transition was whether the expertise built during the ACT Together years would be preserved. Barnardos and OzChild both bring significant continuity — their staff worked within ACT Together, and their therapeutic frameworks informed how the consortium operated.

The Australian Childhood Foundation, the third consortium member, does not operate as a direct foster care placement agency in the ACT under the new panel. Their expertise in trauma-informed practice continues to influence training and professional development across the sector, but they are no longer a front-line provider for prospective carers to approach.

The Legal Framework Has Not Changed

One thing the transition did not alter is the legislative framework. Foster care in the ACT continues to be governed by the Children and Young People Act 2008. The role of the Director-General of the Community Services Directorate, the function of Child and Youth Protection Services (CYPS), the Specific Parental Authority (SPA) instrument, and the Enduring Parental Responsibility (EPR) pathway are all unchanged.

The legal relationship between a carer and the ACT Government — and the legal responsibilities that come with authorization — are exactly what they were under ACT Together. The agencies carry out the assessment and support functions; the statutory framework is held by CSD and CYPS.

How to Get Started Now

The process for becoming a foster carer in the ACT is straightforward in terms of first steps:

1. Attend an information session run by each of the three agencies (most are online and free)
2. Decide which agency to proceed with based on fit, values, and practical requirements
3. Submit your application and begin the mandatory screening checks, including WWVP registration through Access Canberra
4. Begin the six to eight-session home study assessment and Shared Stories, Shared Lives training

The end-to-end timeline from enquiry to authorization is typically 4 to 7 months, depending on the agency's current capacity and the complexity of your household circumstances.

If you want to understand exactly what each stage involves — including how the home safety check is conducted, what assessors are looking for in the home study interviews, and how the Authorization Panel works — the Australian Capital Territory Foster Care Guide covers the ACT-specific process in detail, including the current multi-agency context that replaced ACT Together.

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