The Office of the Children's Guardian accredits agencies so they can provide statutory out-of-home care and adoption services in NSW.
The Office of the Children’s Guardian is responsible for accrediting and monitoring designated agencies and adoption service providers. We do this by assessing the quality and effectiveness of an agency’s services against the Code of Practice.
Statutory out-of-home care and adoption
Statutory out-of-home care is when the Children’s Court has made an order allocating parental responsibility for a child or young person to the Minister for Community Services. The order requires the child or young person to live with a person who is not their parent in a place which is not their parental home, such as foster or residential care.
Adoption is where an adoption order has been made by the Supreme Court of NSW to legally transfer all parental rights and responsibilities, guardianship and custody from parents of a child or young person to adoptive parents.
Why accreditation matters
The accreditation scheme is the way in which we fulfil the Children’s Guardian’s responsibility to promote the best interests of children and young people in out-of-home care and adoption, and to ensure their rights are upheld.
The purpose of the accreditation scheme is to ensure that designated agencies and adoption service providers meet mandatory standards of care, and allows the Children’s Guardian to take action if an agency is not meeting these standards of care.
The accreditation process also allows agencies to:
- share a common understanding of good practice
- work towards continuous quality improvement
- systematically review their performance against the Code of Practice
- encourage greater scrutiny of outcomes and quality.
Designated agencies and adoption service providers
Agencies that are accredited by the Children's Guardian to provide statutory out-of-home care services are known as designated agencies. Only designated agencies accredited by the Children's Guardian can provide out-of-home care in NSW.
Non-government agencies providing adoption services in NSW must be accredited by the Children’s Guardian. Designated agencies providing out-of-home care can also be accredited to provide adoption services.
There are 2 types of accreditation: Provisional accreditation (3 years) and full accreditation (3 or 5 years). Learn more about accreditation.
The Code of Practice
The Code of Practice sets out mandatory practice requirements agencies must meet to achieve and maintain accreditation. Every agency applying for accreditation must provide evidence showing how they meet each of the practice requirements. We also monitor accredited agencies as they provide services to make sure they continue to meet them.
Browse all statutory out-of-home care and adoption resources for guides and templates to help you meet the requirements of the Code of Practice .
The Children’s Guardian Act 2019
Since March 2020, out-of-home care and adoption in NSW have been governed by the Children’s Guardian Act 2019.
This Act consolidates our registration, accreditation and monitoring functions when it comes to voluntary and statutory out-of-home care and adoption service providers. It also gives us greater oversight to help agencies create safer environments for children in NSW.
The Act expanded our previous functions to include the Official Community Visitor Scheme and the Reportable Conduct Scheme.
The Act operates in conjunction with the Children's Guardian Regulation 2022.
