Queensland Government
Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services

Table of contents:

Grant funded support services provide practical support, advice and specialist assistance to children, young people and families who are referred by Child Safety Services.

Support services are available to families and children where Child Safety Services has assessed that ongoing statutory intervention is required for a child's safety. The child’s individual case plan developed by Child Safety Services will identify the child's needs and the most appropriate support service response fir the child or family. The types of services that fall under the banner of support services include:

Counselling and intervention

Counselling and intervention services aim to assist the therapeutic and behavioural support needs of children and young people using evidence-based counselling methods and models of practice that aid the child’s recovery from a range of personal, physical and emotional impacts arising from a personal experience of abuse or neglect.

Counselling and intervention services may also contribute to the overall stability of a child in their out-of-home care placement through direct individual or group counselling support and may also include counselling support to carers within the child or young person's support network.

Family intervention

The aim of Family Intervention Services (FIS) is to support clients of Child Safety Service Centres (CSSC) where ongoing intervention by the department is required with a family because of safety concerns.

The principal aims of the funding program are: to preserve families where a child remains living at home under ongoing intervention and monitoring by the CSSC; and to assist in the reunification of the child with their family from out-of-home care where it is determined by the department to be in the best interests of the child.

FIS aims to increase the protective factors for the child by improving the overall attachment between the child and parent. The FIS response also results in the family either exiting the child protection system with improved skills and parenting ability, or the child feeling and experiencing greater security and stability, including a reduction in safety concerns.

FIS also aims to prevent families from re-entering the child protection system by strengthening the caring and parenting skills of the caregiver and their positive participation in family and community life.

Sexual abuse counselling

Sexual abuse counselling services provide specialist therapeutic counselling to children and young people, non-offending family members and their carers, who are not able to access an appropriate service from Child Safety Services' operated specialist Sexual Abuse Counselling Service (SACS) located in Brisbane.

Transition from care

The Transition from Care pilot service operating in the Beenleigh, Logan and Goodna area is a joint initiative of Child Safety Services and the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation.

The service aims to assist young people aged 15-17 years who are preparing to leave out-of-home care, and their carers.

The service provides practical assistance in the areas of life skills and self care knowledge; increasing access to employment and work skills acquisition; assisting in the development of social relationships (including reconnection with family members), and facilitating access to information and options on future housing, health and income support matters.

Output Calculator - Support Services

The calculator is provided to non-government service providers to assist their data entry in OASIS for each support service type grant funded by the department. These services include Family Intervention Services, Counselling and Intervention Services, Sexual Abuse Counselling and Outreach Placement Support.

A Place to Call Home

A Place to Call Home is a joint family support and housing initiative of the Commonwealth and Queensland governments. In the last three years numerous families have been successfully housed and supported across Queensland in A Place to Call Home through the involvement of the department’s non-government Family Intervention Services (FIS), Referral for Active Intervention (RAI), Child Safety Service Centres and Housing and Homelessness Services and now the involvement of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Support Services (ATSIFSS) and Helping Out Families (HOF) colleagues.

Service providers delivering FIS, RAI, ATSIFSS and HOF services are encouraged to identify families who are at risk of homelessness or are homeless, and the benefits the combination of stable social housing and family support might offer clients in their service.

A fact sheet and referral form is available below:

A Place to Call Home (APTCH) Factsheet (PDF, 100 KB) A Place to Call Home (APTCH) Factsheet (RTF, 96 KB)

A Place to Call Home (APTCH) Referral (PDF, 99 KB) A Place to Call Home (APTCH) Referral (RTF, 367 KB)

Further information

For further information, please contact your regional Community Support Team.