Our enquiry officer will write back to you as soon as we receive your application to confirm receipt. We will get back to you if we need more information. If there are information evenings running at that time, we will invite you along to meet us and ask questions.
We will use the information in your application form plus discussions with you over the phone to try to establish whether your personal and family circumstances are suitable for the demands fostering might make.
All being well, your application form will be given to one of our social workers for them to contact you. They will consider your application in detail and discuss fostering with you.
If both you and the social worker are happy to go ahead the social worker will fix up a time to come and visit you.
When a fostering social worker comes to visit, they will need to take a quick look around your home to make sure that it will be suitable for fostering. They will also encourage you to talk over any questions that you (or your family) have. They will encourage you to think through everything for and against taking your application further.
Before you can be approved to foster, you have to take part in our preparation course. Most of our applicants enjoy this course – it’s not like going back to school and doesn’t mean lots of written work or anything like that.
Your social worker will meet with you regularly at your home to work through all the skills and qualities foster carers will need. They will explain all the issues of working with children and working with the department.
Your partner, your children and everyone living with you will need to take part in this assessment. As your assessment continues, you will be able to consider all the options open to you.
You can discuss which age and type of child would suit your home, how many children you would like to foster, whether you would like to foster disabled children, etc. Your social worker will try to help you to make the right choice for you and your family.
All being well, following the initial visit, your assessment as a foster carer should take around 4 months to complete.
If you are going ahead we will need to check with the police and other authorities to make sure there is nothing serious in your past history (or the past history of anyone else in your house) that would prevent you from fostering.
If you are at all worried about this, you should discuss this with your social worker at a very early stage. We will also pay for you to have a health check with your doctor.
We will take up your personal and employer’s references.
Your social worker pulls together all the information you have worked through in your sessions together. They write a report where they consider everything that will affect your suitability to foster. You get to see the non-confidential parts of this report and you can make your own comments as well.
Your social worker presents your report to an independent panel made up of childcare professionals, a doctor and foster carers. This panel decides whether or not you can be approved as a foster carer. It is up to you whether or not you wish to attend this.
Occasionally the panel will ask for more information or suggest, in light of reports, that you reconsider. In this event you will be advised of your right to appeal.
The great majority of people who complete their assessment and go through to a panel decision are approved.
You can now start fostering. You will be introduced to your supervising social worker who will allocate children to you and help you through your fostering career.
You can take advantage of continuing training opportunities and move up through the accreditation levels and if you wish you can work for NVQ qualifications.
As you begin to look after children you will receive payments through the accreditation scheme and allowances appropriate to the age of child.
Your approval is reviewed every year or following any major change in your circumstances.
Social events and support groups help you to keep in touch with your fellow carers. You can share your experiences and ideas with other carers as well as unwind and have a good time.
It is up to you to decide how long you will continue to foster. Some people carry on for 25 years or longer. Others decide to foster for a limited period or take a break after a few years.
Find out more by by ringing 0116 299 5800 or send us an online enquiry form.
Or you can download an application form here and post it back to us Fostering Application Form (PDF File)
