Frequently Asked Questions

Our children need a range of different foster placements:

Short-term foster care

Children come into care for anything from days to weeks or even months. Many reasons lead to short term placements, such as the illness of a primary carer, neglect, or substance abuse. Supporting children at this timeof transition is a crucial part of short-term foster care.

Long-term foster care

Sometimes the best solution for a child in care is to remainwith the foster family for several years or until they can liveindependently.

Respite Care

Short term care is provided to a child to support their parent/s or foster carers. It can range from anything from one day to every weekend.

Emergency Foster Care

When children require a foster placement urgently, we need foster carers to be in a position to take on the care of the child immediately. The child/ren may only stay for a short time when other arrangements are being planned.

The foster carer, either a couple or a single carer, must be available for the child or young person at all times. We, therefore, accept that the primary carer can work as long as they have total flexibility with the hours they work and can be available as and when needed. It will depend on individual circumstances and needs to be discussed with one of our team.

As a foster carer, you have responsibility for these day-to-day tasks; the school run and doctor's trips included. Should you have a problem on an odd occasion, your link social worker can help you make alternative arrangements.

We'll sit down with you during the assessment process to discuss what types of fostering will suit you best. It isn't always possible to know precisely how long a child will stay with you, but we'll keep you updated as much as we can.

Your assessing social worker will work with you throughout the assessment process to determine what child you both feel would best be suited to your family. You will never be matched with a child you don't feel able to care for.

We try to give you as much information about a young person as possible when discussing a potential placement with you, including any challenging behaviour and how to manage it. Sometimes we have very little information, especially in an emergency. However, we always seek to find out as much as possible and share necessary information with the foster carer.

Your training and dedicated support team will help you cope with challenging behaviours. We will also try to "match" a child with you and your family as closely as possible to ensure a stable and secure home environment.

Occasionally placements do break down despite everyone's best efforts, although rare. In this instance, you would be expected to work with the team to make the transition period as painless as possible for the child as they move on.