Fostering children in the UK.
Fostering is about caring for a child in your own home. For a whole variety of reasons there are around 39,000 children in England who are placed with foster carers by Social Services. Many of these children will eventually return to their families. In some cases this may take a matter of days or weeks in others it may take much longer.
If a return to their families is not possible a decision may be made to find them a permanent new family, possible through adoption.
In the vast majority of cases children in foster care will have regular contact with their families and their parents will continue to have responsibilities towards them throughout the time they are in foster care.
Foster Carers Foster carers are people who look after these children. In the past we used to refer to them as foster parents but this term is misleading. The children already have parents and "foster carers" better reflects the often temporary nature of the task.
Foster carers can be single or a couple, they do not need to be married. They can be heterosexual or gay. Most fostering agencies welcome applications from people who are in their mid twenties and it is quite common for people to foster children up until their 60's.
One of the things we find when people are thinking about applying to become foster carers is that they can sometimes make assumptions about what is involved that are simply incorrect. For instance, some people think they have to own a large house or have a certain income. Neither of these assumptions are correct!
Why do children need to be fostered? There are a lot of reasons why families are unable to look after their children. Many of these reasons will only apply for a short time. For instance, some children may come into foster care for a few weeks when their parent has to go into hospital. In other cases children might need to be fostered for much longer. It may take two or three years before a child is able to return home while social workers and others try to resolve more serious problems within the family.
What kind of children are fostered? The children who are placed with foster carers come from many social, ethnic and religious backgrounds. They may have experienced a variety of problems in their life. Many will be deeply upset about being away from their families and may be "difficult" to care for when they first come in to foster care. However, this does not mean that all children in foster care are "problem children" and many, given sufficient time to settle, are likely to be as "difficult" as any other child.
Some of the children placed with foster carers, because of their history, will have more problems than most and will offer a considerable challenge to their foster carers. This does not mean that they should not be placed with foster carers as this may still be seen as being in their best interests. In some cases children will be identified as needing a specialist fostering placement when their needs are great and where they will place great demands upon those who care for them.
Becoming a Foster Carer All Foster Carers have had police checks, medicals and further checks with the NSPCC and Probation. They are all approved under the Family Placement Regulations.
Some of the things that Foster Carers are expected to do:
The foster carer is expected to help any fostered child in contact with their friends and family. They are expected to make day to day decisions about the child's routine care. They are expected to share information with Social Services and cannot keep secrets or agree to keep relevant information you share with them to themselves. They are expected to involve you as much as possible in the child's life. Decisions about how involved you are will be agreed between yourselves and the social worker. To apply, simply use the contact details.
Foster Care and adoption can be a demanding task. You will certainly need good health, an understanding of the difficulties faced by parents and a commitment to the welfare of children which is shared and supported by all family members.
About the Author
Simply Fostering helps children by finding and recruiting Foster carers. We help you decide if fostering is for you by answering your questions and by providing you with individual advice and support if you decide to realise your potential as a foster carer.
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