Types of fostering
When families reach a point where they can’t look after their own children we need to offer help by providing a foster home, this may only be for a short period of time or there may be long standing difficulties that will take time to resolve.
During the approval process, we will help you to decide what type of fostering and age range will be most suited to your skills, interests and family lifestyle. Some carers are approved for under 5's, 7-11 years or teenagers; your approval will be individual and will be reviewed annually.
Short term:
Some children or young people aged from birth to teenagers need foster care for a short period of time; this can be anything from three to six months. Short term carers work very closely with Children and Young People's Services and other agencies in making decisions and plans about the child's future.
The aim of most short-term care is to help the child return home to their own family as soon as possible.
Bridging placement:
In some cases there are children for whom our efforts to return them to their birth family do not work. Bridging placements provides care whilst plans are made to move a child to long term foster care or adoption. Foster carers can help children come to terms with the decisions that have been made about their future and prepare them for this move.
This type of foster care is likely to last for more than three months but is not intended to be permanent.
Long term:
When a child or young person cannot return to live with their family and the plan is to move them to long term fostering, there is an expectation that they will live with the carers' family until they are ready to move on as an adult.
Children placed with long term foster carers are carefully matched and have a period of introductions. This type of care is usually considered for older children aged 8+ to enable them to grow up in a safe, supportive foster home whilst keeping in touch with their birth family.
Carers provide guidance and support to help a child/young person move on to independence.
Support foster care:
This service provides a break to parents and children or young people when relationships in families become tense, or when families need time to recuperate.
This may be one weekend a month or an occasional overnight stay on a planned basis.
Support care might also include giving a break to a full-time foster carer.
For each of the above schemes we have a particular need for carers who can foster groups of brothers and sisters. These children may have experienced many changes in their lives and helping them stay together maintains security and stability.
If you can take on siblings, you’ll be helping to keep these children together.
Specialist schemes:
Short Breaks for Disabled Children and Young People, the Emergency Fostering Scheme and Fostering Futures are our specialist schemes.
Return to fostering?
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