Becoming a care and protection organisation

When your organisation is approved to provide a care and protection service to children and young people, we will:

• register your organisation
• monitor your organisation.

Approved organisations can:

• support parents and their children to stay together or stay in contact
• provide foster and kinship carers and other safe homes for children
• care for children and young people in residential settings
• support children to return to their families
• help young people to transition to adulthood
• provide therapy and advocacy (a voice for children).

The Social Services Registrar registers and monitors organisations:

• under legislation
• to a regulatory framework.

Read more in the Children and Young People Act 2008.

For our Regulatory Framework visit Information for Care and Protection Organisations.

Get your organisation approved

Your organisation must be assessed as a suitable child safe organisation.

It must:

• prove it can provide services that meet the Care and Protection Organisation Standards
• have a responsible person to lead and manage the organisation and its services.

Before your organisation can apply

You’ll meet with us to:

• tell us about the care and protection services your organisation wants to provide
• learn about the assessment process
• learn what evidence you need to give us.

For our Evidence Guide for Providers on Registration visit Information for Care and Protection Organisations.

Contact us to start the process.

Your organisation's assessment

Your organisation must prove it can provide quality, safe and reliable services to children and young people.

The Social Services Registrar assesses your:

• services
• environment
• people (service staff, carers and volunteers, leadership)
• governance and financial stability.

Your organisation's responsible person must prove they can lead and manage the organisation and its services.

We will send your organisation the assessment outcome in writing.

If your organisation is not approved

If you do not agree with our decision about your organisation, you may get the decision reviewed. The review is done by the ACT Administrative and Civil Appeals Tribunal.

After your organisation  is approved

We’ll add your organisation to the Care and Protection Organisation Register.

Your legal responsibilities

Your organisation must tell the Social Services Registrar if something happens that changes its suitability. For example:

• convictions for a sex offence, fraud or violence
• findings that you are not operating legally or ethically.

You must report some changes within 7 days.

You can be fined and imprisoned for up to 6 months if you do not let us know.

Monitoring your organisation

The Social Services Registrar monitors your organisation to check you are following the standards.

We may inspect you:

• with or without letting you know
• at any time of day or night
• for a specific issue or after a complaint.

We will ask your organisation to provide evidence to show that you comply with our standards.

For our Evidence Guide for Providers – Compliance Review visit Information for Care and Protection Organisations.

If your organisation stops meeting the standards

To protect children and young people, the Social Services Registrar will step in for serious or urgent issues.

Depending on the issue and how you respond, we may:

• give you a date to fix the problem
• stop you providing some services for up to 28 days
• cancel your registration.

Contact us

You can contact us for help or advice.