Who can foster?
You don’t need qualifications. You don't need experience of looking after your own or other children. The most important thing is that you like children and enjoy having them around.
- You need to be patient and sympathetic as well as firm and consistent.
- You need the commitment to carry on even though a child may be difficult and demanding.
- Training and support are provided throughout your fostering career.
- You don’t need to be rich. We pay allowances for each child who stays with you and we provide any initial bedding or equipment you need.
- You can be a married or an unmarried couple.
- You can be single.
- If you are a couple, both of you must be prepared to join in with our assessment and preparation course.
- You can have your own children at home or have children who have left home.
- You can be childless.
- If you have your own children living at home – it is important that they are happy about you fostering.
- If your partner or your own children are not as keen on fostering as you are this could create conflicts of loyalty for you and make children placed with you feel unwanted.
- You can live in a flat or house that you own or rent anywhere in or near Leicester and Leicestershire.
- Standard of accommodation - your home must be suitable for fostering. This does NOT mean that it has to be spotless, freshly decorated or expensively furnished. It DOES mean that it should be safe and welcoming for a child.
- You need enough space for an extra child. Usually this means a spare room.
- If you wish to foster children of a similar age and sex as your own children we will consider shared rooms.
- Age - Foster carers are usually aged from their mid 20s to 60s.
- Health - You need to be fit enough to foster – physically and mentally. We pay for a check up with your doctor before approval.
- Smoking - if anyone in your house smokes this could prevent you fostering babies or very young children unless you agree to smoke well away from them.
- Weight - so long as your doctor thinks you are fit enough to foster so do we - there is no weight limit.
- Fertility Treatment - if you are having fertility treatment, it is usually suggested that you wait until your treatment is completed before considering fostering.
- You or your partner can be working full or part-time or you can be unemployed or retired.
- Children of different ages will need different amounts of your time. So if you are working, you will need to think about how fostering can fit in.
- If you can’t foster full-time because of work or other obligations, etc., then what about the Family Link Scheme or the Independent Visitor Scheme?
- Pets - most pets are fine for most children and pets sometimes help children feel at home. But pets that may be considered dangerous or which are not properly controlled may affect your approval as a foster carer.
- You must be prepared to work with ourselves and other agencies as well as the child’s parents.
- There will be some paperwork involved, but if this is difficult for you we can help out.
- You have to be happy to foster within our guidelines which includes our NO SMACKING policy.
Legal Requirements
If you would like to discuss any of the following subjects in confidence, please ring us on 0116 299 5800 and ask to speak to a social worker.
- Minor convictions for criminal offences in your past need not prevent you fostering. But it is important to discuss anything like this with a social worker right from the start.
- The fostering panel cannot approve anyone with cautions or convictions for violence or sexual offences.
- You will be asked in your application to declare all convictions (whether spent or otherwise).
- Checks will be made for all applicants (and all adults living in your house) with police, probation, health, school, the child protection register and Social Care & Health records.
- Personal references will be taken up.
- Working together against discrimination. Applicants need to have a sensitive approach to race, culture, religion, language, disability and sexuality. The home assessment and the preparation-training course will discuss these issues fully and will aim to raise awareness of the existence of discrimination.
- The fostering panel will not approve any application to foster if discriminatory views have been expressed during the home assessment or preparation training course.
Want to know more?
If you would like to know more about fostering, or you would like to make a fostering enquiry, then please contact us.