Editorial

There are some basic requirements, for example are you aged 21 yrs or older, physically and mentally fit, have a positive approach to looking after vulnerable young people, have a spare room available.

Experience of parenting or caring for children is desirable but not essential. Foster Carers are ordinary people of all ages, from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds. Ideally, foster carers should have some life experience to draw on to help support and nurture the child they are looking after—empathy and understanding are key characteristics in foster carers.

Foster carers can be married or living together, single, divorced, widowed, in a single sex relationship, be working or unemployed, own a home or rent, have birth children or not.

If you are on Benefits, you will not lose them. Any money that you get for looking after the children is an allowance that is paid to you to be spent on the child. It is not classed as a 'wage' so your benefits are safe.

If you have a spare bedroom and time in your life to dedicate to a child;
please consider helping children and apply to become a foster carer
today. Foster care form...

Assessment

Everyone who wants to become a Foster carer has to undertake an assessment. The assessment is about exploring your individual skills and experiences which will be as varied as the children that need foster carers.

The foster care assessment also provides you with information about fostering and how foster caring will affect you, your family and your friends. If you have children, it is important that you talk with them at an early stage about being part of a fostering family.

As your application proceeds you will be invited to attend a training course. Most fostering providers use the Fostering Network course called "Skills to Foster". The course gives you the opportunity to learn more about foster care and fostering and is part of the assessment process. This is also a chance to meet other people applying to become foster carers and to hear what approved foster carers have to say about their experiences of fostering.

Foster care for children...

A foster carer's experience

Rose believes it’s never too late to make a career change. She had 11 years of experience in social work before she became a foster carer – but it wasn’t a rushed decision, she and her husband thought about fostering for a long time.

Rose read books and articles about foster caring before deciding to take the plunge and when Rose and her husband first became carers, it took time to adjust to the changes to their previous lifestyle. As the full-time foster carer, Rose was no longer going out to her work, she now works at home caring for a young person, so home was her new ‘workplace’.

‘I always put myself in the place of the young person,’ Rose said she thinks about how they must feel when they first come into a new home, so she aims to put them at ease and make them feel welcome.

Rose believes that foster carers are learning all the time. ‘It’s a continual learning curve – not only do you learn about the best techniques and approaches for caring for your particular young person, you learn a lot about yourself and your coping mechanisms.’

Rose enjoys her new foster caring profession. She said ‘It is a challenging job and a hugely rewarding job, as you are working with young people who have gone through difficulties in their life.’ She is devoted to helping young people reach their full potential. And she ‘totally recommends’ a career in fostering.