Fostering

What is fostering?

Fostering is a way of helping children and young people by providing them with a safe and nurturing home environment, during a time when they are unable to live with their family. Foster carers work as part of a team to ensure that children are protected and well cared for whilst work is undertaken, and decisions made regarding their future. There are a number of different types of fostering which are outlined below.

Fostering is very different to adoption as it is not about providing a child with a new family and carers are not legally responsible for a child. If you are interested in adoption please contact our adoption team on 020 8891 7754.

Why do children and young people need to be fostered?

Children from birth up to 18 years and sometimes beyond can be fostered. There are many reasons why children and young people are unable to live with their families, these may include; illness, mental health problems, drug and alcohol misuse, relationship difficulties, experiencing abuse or neglect. When a local authority has concerns about a child they may become accommodated either through a Court Order or with voluntary agreement from their parents. Where a child is in care the best scenario for them is to be placed with a foster carer who can provide them with a secure and nurturing family environment.

Who can become a foster carer?

Anyone who is over the age of 21 years and generally under 68 years who lives in, or within easy commute of the borough can apply to become a foster carer. We welcome applications for carers from all cultural, religious and social backgrounds. It doesn’t matter if carers are single, married, in a civil partnership or living with someone. Carers do need to have a strong support network of people to help them practically and emotionally with the fostering task as it can be very demanding. You must have sufficient space in your home and free time to care for a child or young person; this includes attending meetings.

When can’t you be considered to become a foster carer?

Certain criminal offences will prevent a person from being approved as a foster carer, particularly any violent or sexually related offences, and any offences relating to children. There may be other reasons why an applicant may not be considered suitable, these are discussed and decisions made on a case-by-case basis taking into consideration other circumstances and relevant factors.

Will I get paid for looking after a child

All foster carers receive an allowance for each child in their care between £120 to £200 a week dependent on the skills of the carer and the needs of the child. This is to cover the day-to-day cost of looking after a young person including things such as household costs, food, transport, clothing, and leisure activities. Allowances vary depending on the age of the child and are linked to Government recommended levels. Some carers also receive a reward payment which reflects their commitment to providing a home to vulnerable children they do not know and is linked to their professional development and attendance at training. Details of our payment system is provided in the information pack.

Types of fostering explained

Emergency

Sometimes children come into care in an emergency and unplanned way outside of normal office hours. Emergency foster carers need to be prepared to take children into their homes at any time. Often there will be limited information about the children and the placement is generally for a short period while alternative plans are made. Approved foster cares for Richmond Borough are approached to be considered for emergency placements by placing their name on the out of hours rota but it is not an expected requirement of all foster carers.

Task centred

This can mean anything from an overnight stay to a period of several months. Task centred foster carers provide a home for a child of young person whilst decisions are made about their future. Many children are able to return home, others may move on to live with family members, for example grandparents or aunt or uncle, younger children may be adopted or it may be decided that a child will remain in foster carer until they are able to live independently.

Permanent

If the birth parents are not able to overcome their problems and to provide their children with a safe home that can meet their needs, the local authority must consider other ways of providing the child with a permanent, happy and secure home. This may be a placement with an extended family member or a placement with a close friend of the family. In other cases this maybe permanent fostering.

Please see our permanent fostering page for more information.

Respite

Some foster carers provide very short periods of care for children who either live at home or with another foster carer. This is used to support a child or young person current living arrangements, generally where there is a high level of need or particularly challenging behaviour. Respite will usually be a regular arrangement such as one weekend a month or longer periods during holidays, or in other specific circumstances.

Short break care

Is similar to respite but are used specifically to support disabled children and young people. The arrangements are usually a minimum of once a month for an on going period with the same child or young person. If you are interested in this scheme please contact the Short Break Care Team on 020 8831 6047 or for more information, please see the Richmond Family Link page.

Parent and baby

This involves the offer a home to a baby or young child together with their parent. This is usually for an assessment period of between 12 to 24 weeks. Carers are expected to provide guidance and support to new parents to help them develop good parenting skills.

Specialist

Richmond Borough has developed a very successful specialist fostering scheme which is aimed at providing placements for ‘hard to place’ young people aged between 10 and 18 years. Carers are expected to be available full time so cannot work. For this we provide an enhanced financial reward. Often placements are needed for young people who may be involved in criminal behaviour, drug or alcohol misuse, or put themselves at risk through absconding or seeking out inappropriate relationships.

Friends and family

When a child cannot remain living with their parents, other family members or friends may put themselves forward to be considered as carers. They will need to be assessed in the same way as other carers but will only care for a specific child with whom they already have a relationship.

Private

Parents may make informal arrangements for people other than close family members to care for their child. This is classed as private fostering. The Local Authority needs to be notified of these arrangements and has a duty to assess and monitor them to ensure the child’s needs are being met. Please clink on the following link for further information;

What support will I get as a foster carer?

All approved foster carers are allocated a supervising social worker who is there to provide you with practical and emotional support, offering regular supervision meetings to discuss placement issues as well as signing posting training events, discussion forums, and liaising with professionals to ensure foster carers are fully supported and informed.

The Fostering Service also provides carers with:

regular training opportunities;
a mentoring scheme;
independent Foster Carers Association;
membership of an independent support agency;
annual foster carers’ events;
opportunities to complete an NVQ or equivalent qualification;
out of hours social work support;
Foster Carers Forum; and
out of hours social work support.

How do I become a foster carer?

If you are interested in fostering please either complete online fostering form, give us a call on 0800 085 7072, email us at fostering.info@richmond.gov.uk or simply call in at our offices to speak with a member of staff.

You will be provided with an information pack which explains a little more on what being a foster carer is all about. If after receiving the information pack you would like to proceed to the next stage please contact the team to arrange a time for a worker to come out and visit you in your home.