Fostering
What Is Fostering?
Fostering is about providing a safe and secure environment for children and young people to live while they are unable to live at home with their own families. It’s about providing a safe, secure and stable environment for a child’s life to thrive and take shape.
It’s about finding a home. Not any home but one where a child can grow up safely with love and support and to allow the person to develop to their full potential.
Fostering encompasses all aspects of guardianship. It’s about providing care and emotional support. It can represent one of the most rewarding decisions for both you and the child/young person.
Who Needs Foster Care?
Children and young people aged 0-18 years (and sometimes older) from all backgrounds, cultures and nationalities may need foster care. Foster care is especially needed for young people aged 8 and over and for brothers and sisters who need to be kept together. There is also a need for Carers for young people with physical disabilities.
Why Do Children And Young People Need Fostering?
A child can enter fostering for any number of reasons. This could be anything from removing the child for its own safety, to emergency fostering while a parent or guardian has fallen ill or entered hospital.
Who Can Foster?
Foster Carers come from all backgrounds, races and genders.
We are looking for people who are physically healthy and emotionally mature, with a capacity to understand the young person’s position. We need people who are in stable relationships or settled as a single person. To be considered, it is essential that you have at least one spare bedroom.
It’s about providing the right environment for a child’s life to take shape whilst ensuring that the child’s needs will be met. This will determine whether an applicant is suitable to foster a child.
Yes, there are rules on what is required to foster a child but the decision is not made on the basis of the family orientation or background.
So What Can I Expect?
Fostering a child is a full time occupation, from running a bath to walking them home from school.
Fostering encompasses all aspects of life and requires unlimited commitment.
No two children or young person placed in care are the same. However, to be placed in care, children have often come through an uncertain and challenging time and may have experienced neglect or abuse. No two cases will be the same, making it difficult to describe a ‘typical child’. What is certain is that all children and young people entering care require security, safety and stability to ensure they have the best possible chance in life.
Will I Receive Assistance?
Yes of course. There is an allowance paid to Foster Careers for each child placed in your care. These allowances are intended to cover all aspects of the child’s care including food, clothing, savings, Birthdays and Christmas gifts.
Is All Fostering The Same?
Short Term – When you look after a child for a few weeks, a few months or even a few years whilst the child’s future is planned and agreed.
Long Term – When you foster a child who cannot return to their own family but adoption is not the most appropriate option for them. This might be because the child or young person continues to have regular contact with their relatives. The child will stay with you until they are eighteen years old and are ready to live independently.
Emergency – Some Foster Carers work on a duty rota to provide emergency cover for unplanned placements during the evening, weekend and holidays.
Respite – When you provide care for a short time, on a planned and regular basis. This allows the child’s parents or usual Foster Carer to have a break themselves.
Specialist – Some children have moderate to severe disabilities and may require a lot of attention and care. You could also be asked to care for children with life limiting illnesses. You will need to ensure that you have a ground floor room that is adaptable to the child’s needs.
So I Want To Foster A Child Or Young Person. What’s The Next Step?
Contact us. All fostering applications follow the same procedure designed to ensure the best possible match is made between the child/young person and Foster carers.
