Fostering is a rewarding and recognised profession, providing an alternative family environment for children and young people who can’t live at home or with family. Foster carers open their homes to these children, providing them with a safe, stable, and nurturing environment where they can thrive. It means a fresh start, but this doesn’t mean erasing the past – the important bonds foster children have with their biological families are maintained, too.
What is a foster carer?
Foster carers are approved following a thorough assessment process and training.
You will provide consistency for a child and be someone the child can form a positive attachment to.
As our foster carers will tell you, fostering is not always plain sailing – there are good days and bad days for every family. However, fostering is extremely rewarding, and our foster carers know that every day they are making a difference in a child’s life.
What will I do as a foster carer?
As a foster carer, you’re a vital part of a professional team that provides a loving family environment for children. It involves working very closely with social workers to support the child’s social and emotional development. As well as caring for their health and wellbeing you will also help them keep in touch with their birth family. Foster carers nurture trusting relationships with the children they foster, providing a family environment filled with love, support and patience.
Foster carers look after children in their home and take care of their practical day-to-day needs. This may include school drop-offs and pick-ups, making meals, working with schools to support their learning, and offering emotional support and guidance as they grow.
The difference between fostering and adoption
Fostering is the temporary placement of a child who is unable to live with their birth family. There are many different types of fostering, which you can read about in more detail on our Types of Fostering page. Whilst in foster care, the legal responsibility for the child lies with the local authority.
Adoption is the permanent placement of a child or young person into a new home. The adoptive parents become the child’s legal parents, make all parental decisions and take on legal responsibility for the child. Adopting a child is a lifelong commitment.
Interested in becoming a foster carer?
We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch with our experienced, friendly team for a chat about foster care…