Fostering is caring for children or young people in your own home while their own parents are unable to look after them.
Local authorities have a responsibility to look after children in their area who are in need, and they see foster care as a good way of meeting children’s needs.
About 79 percent of children who are looked after away from home in the UK live with foster families. Foster carers are child care experts working alongside a team of professionals providing children with the highest standard of care.
Fostering is not easy; but it offers the opportunity to make a huge difference to the lives of the children who need it and it can be a very rewarding experience. It can be a temporary arrangement, and many fostered children return to their own families. Children who cannot return home but still want to stay in touch with their families often live in long-term foster care.
Fostered children are not like your own children, and love is not enough to enable you to look after them. Fostering is an important and valuable job, and more people are recognising the skills and commitment that go into looking after other people’s children.
You will need to ensure that you do all you can to support children and young people in their education, look after their health and promote their social wellbeing. Being a foster carer involves more than just looking after a child.
Anyone can apply to become a foster carer providing you have the room in your home and the right qualities to look after children who cannot live with their parents. There is no age limit, you can be gay or straight, single or a couple, male or female, of any race or culture.
You do not need to be a home owner and you can have a high or low income. You do not need to have had your own children.
The only specific barriers to applying are if you have certain types of criminal record. Applicants will be required to undergo a criminal record check before becoming a foster carer, so early disclosure of any offences is essential.
What is important is that you have time and space in your life for a child who may be demanding. You will need to show that you can care properly for children and are willing to undergo preparation and training for the job you will be doing.
Although deciding to foster is a very personal decision, it doesn’t just involve you. Fostering directly involves every member of your family, and will have some impact on your extended family and even friends too.
Everybody you call family or who you rely on needs to be fully supportive of your decision to foster.
We know there may be many valid reasons why foster carers wish to change agency, but some may be concerned that the process of transferring is too difficult. However, every foster carer has the right to change agency and the process may be simpler than you think.
Footprints Foster Care Ltd
Registered Company No 07879639
Longham Business Park
168 Ringwood Road
Ferndown
Dorset BH22 9BU
Please do not be anxious about contacting us
– we promise not to put you under any pressure. We are happy to answer your questions and we need to ask questions to make sure that you meet some basic criteria, such as do you have a spare bedroom and live in the right area?
Assuming that these basic criteria are met and you are happy to proceed, we will arrange to come and meet you at your home.
The home visit usually lasts 1-2 hours and gives both parties the chance to ask lots of questions. We find out more about you and you find out more about us and what we can offer. If everyone is happy to proceed you will be given an application form to complete.
If however, having found out more about fostering, you decide that you do not wish to proceed, then do not feel embarrassed to say so. We will also be honest and let you know if we do not feel it is in your interests to proceed.
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If you decide to proceed, you will complete an application form and go into the assessment process. This can take between 3–6 months and is undertaken by a qualified social worker.
It is a thorough process and one which helps people understand what has shaped their lives, prepares them for the challenge of fostering and determines their motivation to foster. As part of this process, we will also undertake statutory checks and personal references, including police checks, personal and employment references and medicals.
The social worker will also meet with your personal referees, members of your household and any adult children you have living away from home to ensure they fully support your intentions to foster.
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During the assessment period, you will have the opportunity to attend the Skills to Foster™ course that provides the foundation for future learning and development, as well as giving you the confidence to undertake your first placement.
You will also be required to complete a portfolio of evidence to support your assessment.
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After stage 3 has been completed, your assessment and portfolio will be presented to a Fostering Panel. The panel is made of experienced social work practitioners and independent members, who will have carefully considered the report in advance of the panel.
You and your assessor will both attend the fostering panel to enable panel members to meet you, address any points for clarification and hear any final questions you may have.
If the panel is satisfied the requirements regarding your suitability to foster are met, they will make a recommendation to approve you as a foster carer.
The ultimate decision to approve lies with the agency decision maker, who will carefully consider the recommendation made by the fostering panel.
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