We Are Recruiting Foster Carers in and around Dorset
Dorset Council forecasts that it needs ten more internal foster carers for Dorset children every year, and another twenty for unaccompanied children. That is its own published figure, from its Placement Sufficiency Strategy for 2024 to 2027.
Thirty new households a year is a tall order for any council.
Ofsted rated us Outstanding
In January 2026 Ofsted inspected South Coast Fostering and rated us Outstanding in all three judgement areas: the experiences and progress of children, how well children are helped and protected, and the effectiveness of leaders and managers. No requirements, no recommendations.
Their summary: “The independent fostering agency provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good.”
We look after just over 20 fostering families and we intend to stay small. The reason we can work like this is that nobody here carries a caseload they can’t do justice to.
What we pay Dorset foster carers
£479.50 a week for a child aged 0 to 10. £507.50 a week for a child aged 11 and over. Per child, every week, whether the placement lasts a fortnight or five years.
Caring for a child with additional needs pays £550 to £850 a week. Parent and child placements, where you support a young parent and their baby together, pay £987 a week. We also contribute between £330 and £1,500 a year towards your council tax, rising the longer you foster with us.
Most fostering income is tax free under HMRC’s qualifying care relief. Ask us and we’ll go through the numbers with you properly, including what your household would actually take home.
The support behind it
Your supervising social worker visits at least every four weeks and sees the child at least every eight. That’s a floor, not a target, and in practice it’s usually more.
There’s telephone advice twenty four hours a day, every day of the year, including a dedicated out of hours team. Fostering doesn’t keep office hours.
Training runs from before you’re approved and carries on afterwards, funded by us.
Where Dorset’s shortage actually bites
At 31 March 2024, 116 of Dorset’s 446 children in care were placed outside the county and more than twenty miles from home. That is roughly one in four.
Dorset has been working at it, and the proportion living outside the county fell from 47% in 2020 to 42% in 2023. Ofsted rated the council Outstanding in March 2025 and noted that “senior leaders are conscious of more children in care living outside of the authority and seek to rectify the inequality and disadvantage this brings for their children”.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is a separate council with its own pressure. It has more than 300 foster carers across over 200 households, and said in May 2024 that it wanted thirty more families.
Rural Dorset is the harder part. A child from Bridport or Sherborne placed in a town an hour away loses the school run, the football club and the grandparents in one go.
Who you’d be working with
Emma is the supervising social worker for Dorset. She is the person you would actually see every few weeks, and the one who picks up when something has gone sideways.
Sally Barnett is our registered manager. She fostered before she managed, which changes the tenor of most conversations. Ofsted named her in the January 2026 report.
Richard Norwood is our director and Melanie Yearwood is our responsible individual.
Do you qualify?
Most people who assume they can’t foster, can. You don’t have to own your home, be married, be under 55, or have children of your own. You can work, though you’ll need genuine flexibility during the day.
You will need a spare bedroom for most placements. Babies are the exception: a newborn can sleep in a crib in your room at the start.
If you live in rural Dorset you’ll need a car. Contact sessions and health appointments can mean several trips a week, and the bus timetable won’t cover it.
Already fostering somewhere else?
Transferring is more straightforward than most carers expect, and because you’re already approved it moves faster than a first assessment. If you have a child in placement, a transfer protocol meeting protects their stability throughout. Read more about transferring to South Coast Fostering.
Where we cover in Dorset
Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, along with Weymouth, Dorchester, Bridport, Sherborne, Blandford Forum and Wimborne.
Talk to us
Call 023 8235 2020, or send a message on WhatsApp if that’s easier. The first conversation takes about fifteen minutes and commits you to nothing at all.
We’d rather you asked the awkward questions now than found out later.
Values that lead us
01
Doing the right thing, not the easy thing
If something is the right thing to do, then we will always do it, even if it is difficult.
02
Treat Carers As Professionals
We are shocked when we hear how poorly some foster carers have been treated by their fostering service. At SCF we always treat carers as professionals.
03
Family
We see ourselves as one big family. This means we have a deep underlying respect for each other.
04
Always be learning
We see everyday, and every incident as a chance to learn and develop. We help carers and staff reflect on how their actions affect others.
book a call about fostering:
We’d be happy to give you a 15-20 minute call to tell you about fostering. Don’t worry, there’s no pressure from us – it’s honestly a chance for you to ask us any questions you have about fostering, and your suitability. Just complete this short form
The Heart of Being a Foster Carer
Becoming a foster carer is not simply about opening your home. It is about opening your life, your routines and, at times, your heart to a child who may be feeling uncertain, anxious or unsettled.
Many children who come into foster care have experienced disruption or instability. What they often need most is something steady — a calm voice at bedtime, reassurance after a difficult day at school, someone who remembers how they like their toast in the morning. These small, ordinary moments are what begin to rebuild trust.
As a foster carer, you may see a child gradually relax into your home. You might notice them beginning to laugh more freely, sleep more peacefully or talk more openly. Progress is not always dramatic, and it is rarely instant. Often, it is found in quiet milestones — the first time they ask for help with homework, the first time they invite a friend over, the first time they say they feel safe.
Fostering can also be emotionally complex. Some children will move on, whether returning to family members or transitioning to adoption. Saying goodbye can be difficult. Yet many carers describe a deep sense of purpose in knowing they provided stability at a crucial point in a child’s life. You may not always see the long-term outcome, but the care you offer becomes part of that child’s story.
At South Coast Fostering, we understand that fostering is both rewarding and demanding. It requires patience, resilience and compassion. That is why emotional support and reflective supervision are just as important as practical guidance. We stand alongside our carers through the challenges as well as the successes.
Being a foster carer means helping a child believe that safe, dependable adults exist. It means offering consistency when life has felt unpredictable. And while fostering will change a child’s life, many carers find that it changes theirs too — bringing perspective, connection and a strong sense of meaning.
If you are someone who can offer steadiness, warmth and commitment, fostering could be a powerful way to make a lasting difference.
Who we Work With
How can you help?
The following are a few ways in which you can help us, and children in your local community.
Talk to your friends about fostering
If you can’t foster yourself you could talk to your friends and family to see if they can. We will actually reward you for anyone that becomes an approved carer for us.
Give a helping hand to a care leaver
Care leavers might need a helping hand, we have some ideas about how to help