Hi Blondie
Welcome to Poms in Oz.
Unfortunately, emigrating to Australia is by no means as simple as finding a job out there. First the skill that the would be migrant is offering has to be one that the Australian Government believes is in short supply in Australia. Then one has to consider which visa(s) a given person might be eligible for - if any of them. If the would-be migrant is under 45, there are more visa options than if s/he is 45 or over, as well.
Beyond that, I think your best bet at this stage would be to telephone all three of the firms of Registered Migration Agents listed below. All of them would be happy to chat with you on the phone, free of charge and without any obligation on your part, for 10-15 minutes or so. 10 minutes is plety long enough for a good Agent to develop a shrewd idea of what your options might be. That saves an anormous amount of head-banging with the DIAC website, I assure you.
The firms are:
Go Matilda, in Southampton:
Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - Contact and Feedback
Ian Harrop & Associates in Burford, near Oxford:
Registered Australian Migration Agents, UK - Ian Harrop and Associates
Visa Bureau:
Australian Visa: Australian Visa Bureau
All three firms have been highly recommended by many Poms in Oz members on many occasions.
To give you a general idea of the sorts of questions I would be asking in your shoes, please read on.
How old are you and your husband respectively?
The ASRI list does not say anything about Foster Caring specifically. Childcare Co-ordinator looks as if it might fit the bill, though (depending on what an RMA would say about the idea.) Please see here:
Child Care Coordinator 1295-11 - Australian Skills Recognition Information
According to the link above, formal qualifications are not necessarily essential in this field. This
might - I stress "might" because I am not sure - mean that you can rely on something called Recognition of Prior Learning, or RPL. I have no idea how RPL works, though, so you would need to consult an expert.
When you mention your family, I take it you mean yourself, your spouse and your natural or adopted children only?
You could try bashing your way through the DIAC website on your own but the thing is a total maze to begin with, especially when identifying one's skill is not necessarily straightforward, as I suspect it isn't in your case. It wold be much quicker and easier for you to get an expert to help you, I reckon. However, the DIAC website is here:
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Best wishes
Gill
