How to claim

Complete the following steps to claim a Foster Child Health Care Card. Before you start, check if you can get it.

You can claim the card when you make a claim for Family Tax Benefit.

If you’re not eligible for Family Tax Benefit, you can claim the card separately.

Steps to claim Foster Child Health Care Card

  1.  

    1. Get ready to claim

    The easiest way to claim is online. If you have a correspondence nominee they can also claim for you online.

    To claim online, you need a Centrelink online account linked to myGov. If you have a nominee they also need to have their own account.

    If you don’t have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account you’ll need to set them up.

    You’ll need to get some supporting documents ready to help answer some of the questions in the claim.

    You may need to prove your identity and your foster child’s identity with us before you start your claim.

  2.  

    2. Make your claim

    If you can claim online

    If your Centrelink account is linked to myGov you can claim online.

    To do this:

    1. Sign in to myGov.
    2. Select Make a claim or view claim status, then Make a claim.
    3. Under Concession Cards select Get started then follow the prompts to complete your claim.

    Sign in to myGov

    If you can’t claim online

    If you can’t claim online you can do one of the following:

  3.  

    3. Track your claim

    After you submit your claim online, you’ll get a receipt telling you:

    • your claim was submitted
    • the ID number of your claim
    • the date we estimate your claim will be complete
    • a link to track its progress.

    To track the progress of your application online, sign in to myGov and select Make a claim or view claim status.

    Sign in to myGov

    You can also use the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

    We’ll let you know the result of your application. We’ll send a message to your myGov Inbox.

    If you don’t get electronic letters, we’ll send you a letter in the mail.

    If we need more details we’ll ask you for them.

    If you think we’ve made a mistake you can ask us to review our decision.

Contact numbers available on this page.

Centrelink families line

Use this line if you need help with family payments, such as Family Tax Benefit, Child Care Subsidy or Parental Leave Pay.

Monday to Friday 8 am to 8 pm

If your child’s Youth Allowance payment has been suspended, it may be because we still need information about your income. We may have sent your child a letter asking for this in September or October, read how you can update your income details online.

There are other ways you may want to contact us.

Page last updated: 3 January 2025.
QC 45581