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About Fostering - A guide to get you started

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Published by , 2017-03-30 15:28:57

About Fostering - A guide to get you started

About Fostering - A guide to get you started

VERSION 1.0

ABOUT
FOSTERING

A guide to get you started

select fostercare

BETTER OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN'S LIVES

02

CONTENT
OUTLINE

What is Fostering? ---- 03
Legislation ---- 04

Facts and figures ---- 05
How does it work? ---- 06
The role of Independent Fostering Agencies ---- 07
Who are these children? ---- 09
Are there different types of fostering? ---- 11
Who are the foster carers? ---- 13
What about applicants with criminal convictions? ---- 15

03

WHAT IS
FOSTERING?

Fostering is the provision of approved carers to care for
children and young people from age 0 – 18yrs. Young people
who, for various reasons are unable to live with their birth
families. This may be in an emergency for a few nights, to
longer periods; even up to their independence and beyond in
some circumstances.

Fostering differs from adoption in that in adoption cases,
the legal rights in relation to parental responsibility are
transferred to the adoptive parents.

04

LEGISLATION

The term fostering is a generic term to describe looking
after someone else’s child in an approved foster home.
Fostering is regulated by the Children Act 1989 and 2004,
and the Fostering Services Regulations 2011.
There are National Minimum Standards for these regulations,
against which all fostering providers are monitored and
inspected by The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted).

FACTS & 05
FIGURES
As of 31st March 2014 there were upward of 68,000 children and young
people in local authority care. 75% of these were living with foster carers.

The make-up of these groups reflects the diversity in ethnicities and cultures
we find in our society, with a fairly even mix of boys and girls across an age
range of 0 – 16 years.

There are over 50,000 fostering households in the UK. It is estimated that
every year over 14% of all approved carers stop fostering for various reasons,
including retirement. There is an on-going need to recruit more people to
replenish the national pool of carers.

68,000

As of 31st March 2014 there were upward of 68,000
children and young people in local authority care.

06

HOW DOES IT
WORK?

In the UK, the provision of foster care services for children is
regulated by Government Legislation, with a mix of providers
mainly consisting of:

Local Authorities who maintain their own Foster Carers
Charitable organisations providing fostering services to Local
Authorities
Independent Fostering Services
There are variations in how these groups operate, but
essentially they all come under the same regulatory framework
and are responsible for recruiting and supporting foster carers
for Children who have come under the care of Local Authorities.

07

THE ROLE OF
INDEPENDENT
FOSTERING
AGENCIES

Independent Fostering Agencies (IFA) differ from local
authority fostering teams. They are not directly responsible
for care planning, placement decisions or indeed shortfalls in
local authority provision of services.

IFAs’ recruit, assess, train, approve and support Foster Carers.
We propose placements to local authorities and work in
partnership with other agencies to help ensure the needs of
children and young people are met and they experience good
outcomes.

08

Select Fostercare Services is a newly established agency working in
partnership with our carers, local authorities and other agencies to
promote and safeguard the welfare of ‘looked after’children in foster care.

We pride ourselves on working in an open, transparent and non-judgemental way. We strive to
ensure there is clarity in our expectations of Foster Carers, our staff, partnering agencies and

what should be expected of us.

The management team is highly qualified with  broad
experience of social care and business administration.
All our staff, foster carers and fostered children can
expect to be treated with dignity and respect at all
times.

09

WHO ARE
THESE
CHILDREN?

All children have a right to live and grow up in a safe loving family
environment. Some children and young people must live away
from their birth families.

A Parent may have health problems, bereavement or other
problems which mean they are unable to  look after their children.
These children will come under the care of Local Authority and are
very different in terms of their individual experiences, ethnicity,
religion and culture. There is no ‘typical’child.

They all need love, care, stability and support to thrive and
experience good outcomes.

10

Caring for these children is often challenging and demanding.

It is a role that requires:

PATIENCE RESILIENCE

UNDERSTANDING ENERGY

The rewards of working in a supportive team to help
transform the lives of these children is immense.

11

ARE THERE
DIFFERENT
TYPES OF
FOSTERING?

There are many different types of foster care.

Some children and young people need a Foster Home for
just a few days, generally in an emergency, until they are
able to return to their own families or move on to
somewhere else; others may need long term Foster Homes
where they can be cared for more permanently.

12

Placements are also grouped to broadly identify the assessed needs of looked
after children and the local authoritys’ plans for their care including:

 Children who have been neglected and abused
 Children who have become non responsive to parental control
 Children with disabilities who cannot live with their birth parents
 Children who are remanded into care by the youth court
A young parent and child where the parent may need guidance and
support to develop good parenting skills

13

WHO ARE THE
FOSTER
CARERS?

Carers are recruited from a diverse range of backgrounds. We
recruit carers who may be married, single or divorced, cohabiting,
gay and lesbian.  Carers may or may not be in employment, have
their own children living at home,  or grown up children who have
left home.
Our carers come from a variety of religious and ethnic groups.
Our basic requirement is that you are caring, patient, energetic,
and resilient and have the physical and emotional space to care
for a child. You do not need to own your own home but you must
have a spare bedroom and enough space to include a child in your
home.

14

At Select Fostercare we are looking for carers that have, or are willing to develop their:

Ability to provide high quality care and support to ‘looked after’
children

Skills in setting clear boundaries and managing challenging
inappropriate behaviour

Understanding of child development,  including attachment,
 separation and loss

 Ability to keep children safe and help them to develop their
own sense of safety in the community

Ability to help and support children to make good use of
educational and leisure opportunities available to them

15

WHAT ABOUT
APPLICANTS WITH
CRIMINAL
CONVICTIONS?

This would depend on the nature of the conviction. It is therefore
important that the fullest information is disclosed at the earliest
opportunity to avoid disappointment and undue delays in
processing the application.

The foster carer role is exempt under the Rehabilitation of
Offenders Act 1974, which means that the Disclosure Barring
Service checks that are completed for applicants will reveal all
recorded convictions including police cautions, regardless of the
age of the conviction or caution.

Address: Select Fostercare Services Ltd
Warren Cottage, Overton Drive, Wanstead
London, E11 2LW
Phone: 020 8536 4949
Email:  [email protected]
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Copyright © 2017. Select Fostercare Services Ltd, All rights reserved. Designed by Miibrand


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