thinking about fostering?
What is foster care?
We have all heard the term, but what does it mean?
Foster care is a broad term which means that a child is living with a fostering family because they are unable to live with their own birth family.
Our foster parents support children in foster care and provide them with a safe, caring, stable family home for as long as they need it – this could be anything from a few days or weeks to months or even years.
There are many different reasons why children come into foster care, and each will have their own life story. Every child is an individual, which is why we offer different types of fostering placements.
How is fostering different to adoption?
Fostering and adoption are very different. When you adopt a child, you become their legal guardian and you’re responsible for them just as you would be for your own child. There are specialist adoption agencies you can approach to adopt.
It’s not the same when you foster – legal responsibility remains with their own birth family or, in some cases, the local authority.
This means that, in many cases, a child won’t stay with you until they reach adulthood – although this does happen when a child is fostered long term. Often when caring for a child for a short period of time, you can’t make decisions for them on your own. For example, in some cases you may need to ask before taking a child on holiday or check that mum and dad are happy for you to arrange a change of hairstyle.
We're aware that these types of rules can make life harder for foster parents but even more so for children, as it can make them feel different to their peers. We work hard with local authorities and parents to make this as easy as possible and, wherever possible, gain delegated authority for our foster parents so that they can help children experience a more natural childhood.