Wanting to be a foster carer?
Fostering is a way of providing a family life for children who can not live with their own parents.
Often a child will return home after a period of time once the problems that caused them to come into foster care have been resolved and it is clear that parents, or extended family members are able to look after them safely. Foster care can be for short or long terms.
Children in foster care, like all children, have a great many positive qualities and potential too. The rewards come when you see the progress being made, be it in small or large steps, and realise the part you have made in making a difference to a child's life.
Fostering is a way of providing a family, home, and enriched life for children who can not live with their own parents.
The specific reasons why a child or young person needs to be fostered varies, however they include:
- Parents are suffering from poor health
- Parents are struggling to cope
- A family member has a drug or alcohol problem that seriously affects their ability to provide safe care
- there is a conflict between parents and a child or young person and require a break for a period of time
- A child has been physically or sexually abused or seriously neglected
- A young person has been remanded by the court to the care of the council
- Parents of children with disabilities find they need a short break to help them 'recharge their batteries' to cope with the demands of caring for a child with extensive and often challenging needs.
What types of fostering are there?
There are many types of fostering that people can be approved for within North Lincolnshire:
Short term fostering
This consists of anything from an overnight stay to a number of months, it depends on circumstances and the legal situation. This type of fostering will involve working closely with professionals and parents to overcome difficulties.
As well as delievering high class care, it also is the role of the foster carer to promote the child's health, education and social needs, and facilitating contact with birth family members.
Short term placements can occur as an emergency however the majority of them are planned, we always try to provide foster carers with as much information about the child in advance. In this way you are helped to decide whether or not you feel you will be able to agree to the child being placed with you. Every effort is made to match your needs, your family's needs and the child's needs.
Long term fostering
Long term fostering is provided for those children and young people who cannot return home but for whom adoption or residential care is not appropriate. This type of fostering requires considerable commitment and resilience on the part of foster carers who will be expected to look after the child until they were ready to live independently.
Contract care
Contract foster carers look after children who may be particularly challenging to care for. This may be because they have offended, have presented very difficult behaviour, and are a risk to themselves or others in some where. To reflect the skills, time and dedication needed these carers are paid a fee on top of normal foster care allowance.
Short break fostering
This form of fostering can suit people who feel they only have limited time to give and they can fit it around their own commitments.
Often this consists of providing care for a child with disabilities, on a regular basis, allowing parents time off. Short break carers decide the type of disabilities they feel most confident in managing.
Friends and family foster care
Increasingly, and whenever possible, children who require foster care are placed with friends or extended family members, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, close neighbours and so on. These placements often work well for children as they go to live with people they already know. These carers are assessed and approved when children are subject to interim or full care orders.
Children are individuals with their own particular background, specific experiences, perspectives and needs what foster carers can expect will vary. Some children will have had good experiences at home. For others the picture will be more mixed, consist of forms of abuse, and their basic needs being unmet. As a consquence children often present behaviours that can be difficult to manage. Such behaviours can include sleeping and eating problems, destructiveness, lying, stealing, self harming or being withdrawn. Although these behaviours can be challenging with the right approach, help and support, improvements can be made.
Children in foster care, like all children, have many positive qualities and potential too.
Who can foster?
People who foster are from all walks of life to meet the needs of a wide range of children who are required to be fostered. People who apply to foster are assessed on their own merits and abilities to parent an adopted child.
We do not discriminate on the grounds of gender, ethnic origin, class, culture, sexuality or disability.
You must possess the following core skills, abilities and qualities:
- Be patient, tolerant and be able to provide a warm and secure environment
- Have extra time and energy a foster child would need
- Be willing to reflect, learn, and develop some new knowledge and skills
- Be able to communicate effectively and work positively with the childs family and professionals
- Be able to be resilient and overcome problems you may face
- Have enough space in your home, which is furnished and maintained to a satisfactory standard
- Be prepared for us to learn more about you and your family through the assessment process.
Foster carers can be from any walk of life:
- There is no age restriction to fostering although it is expected that you should be mature and healthy enough to parent a child through to adulthood
- Single people, male or female, can adopt
- Applicants can be married, or unmarried of any sexuality
- Usually couples should have lived together for at least two years
- Applicants can be home owners or live in rented accomodation
- Applicants can be childless, have children still living at home or have adult children who have left home
- Applicants may be employed or unemployed
If you have been convicted of a crime, this does not necessarily mean you cannot adopt, it depends on the nature of the offence. You must declare convictions and cautions and agree for checks to be carried out on you. Checks will need to be done on all household residents over 16 years old. We will not approve anyone with convictions or cautions for sexual or domestic violence or convictions against children, in line with government guidelines.
All applicants must undergo a medical examination to assess their physical and mental health. It is important that people are likely to stay fit for some time, as many of the children have experienced significant losses in their lives.
Take a look at our application process page to see what happens next.