What support do you get in your first year of fostering?
Every foster carer in England is entitled to a named social worker, an induction, a training programme with a deadline, and an out-of-hours service. Here is what that actually looks like across your first year with South Coast, from Skills to Foster and the planning meeting to the phone call at eleven at night.
What happens at fostering panel?
A fostering panel reads your assessment, meets you and makes a recommendation, but it does not make the final decision. Here is who sits on the panel, what they are allowed to ask, what the terms of approval actually mean, how long the agency decision maker has, and what the Independent Review Mechanism can and cannot do if the answer is no.
How do you get your home ready for fostering?
A room-by-room walk through the fostering home safety check: what the National Minimum Standards actually require, what a social worker looks at, and what to sort out before a child arrives.
What happens on the Skills to Foster course?
Every applicant does preparation training before approval, and for most people that means the Skills to Foster course. Here is what the three days and six sessions actually cover, who else is in the room, whether it counts as a test, what the National Minimum Standards say you are entitled to be told, and where it all sits alongside your assessment.
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.
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.
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.
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.