What do foster carers have to write down?
Foster carers keep a short, dated note of how each child’s day went, and those notes end up in supervision, in court, and sometimes in the hands of the child themselves years later. Here is what to write down, what the National Minimum Standards actually require, why fact matters more than opinion, and how long the records are kept.
How do you transfer to a different fostering agency?
Foster carers have the right to move between fostering services, but the process has rules that catch people out. Here is what the national transfer protocol says, why you must never resign before speaking to a new agency, what happens if a child is living with you, and how long a transfer really takes.
What is it like to foster a baby?
Fostering a baby means the feeds and the broken nights, and also a health review every six months, an immunisation schedule, family time several days a week and a court timetable you do not control. Here is what caring for a baby in foster care really involves, why a spare bedroom is often not the barrier people think, and what happens when the baby moves on.
Can men foster? What male foster carers do and why they matter
Men can and do foster, whether single or with a partner. Here is what a male foster carer actually does day to day, how safer care protects you, how fostering fits around work, and what the assessment will ask of you.
Can you foster if you are over 55?
There is no upper age limit for foster carers in England. Here is what the rules really say about fostering after 55, what the medical looks at, how fostering pay sits alongside a pension, and the questions an assessing social worker will ask.
What is parent and child fostering?
In parent and child fostering, a mother or father moves in alongside their baby and stays for around twelve weeks while the local authority assesses whether they can care for their child on their own. Here is what the role really involves, why the family court is usually behind it, what gets written into the agreement before anyone arrives, and what South Coast pays for it.
Fostering vs adoption: what’s the difference?
Fostering and adoption start in the same place and then go in very different directions. One legal difference explains almost all of the others: adopters become a child’s legal parents, foster carers do not hold parental responsibility. Here is how the two compare on permanence, money, approval and the places where they overlap.
The different types of foster care explained
Emergency, short-term, long-term, parent and child, baby, short breaks, enhanced fostering and Staying Put all ask something different of a carer. Here is what each one actually involves day to day, what South Coast pays for it, and a few honest questions to help you work out which one would fit your life.
Can single people foster?
You do not need a partner to become a foster carer, and you never have. The Department for Education says plainly that relationship status is not a barrier. Here is what single applicants are actually asked about, whether you can keep your job, and how the money works on one income.
Do you need a spare bedroom to foster?
More people talk themselves out of fostering over a bedroom than over almost anything else. Here is what the fostering standards actually require, which rooms count, what happens at the home safety check, and why a baby under two can sleep in a cot in your room.