Children and young people who are fostered are not able to live with their birth family, which can be for any number of reasons. Therefore, foster carers may be required to care for a child or young person for a short period of time, perhaps due to a crisis in the child’s or young person’s birth family, or for longer periods of time where it has been decided that a child or young person can’t be safely cared for within their birth family.
During your assessment your supervising social worker will discuss with you what types of children you are open to fostering and will make a recommendation about what type of foster care to approve you for.
Mainstream fostering
There are two types of mainstream fostering these are short-term and long-term fostering.
Short-term fostering
Most children come into care short-term whilst social workers complete assessments in order to make plans for a child to either return to their birth family or to find a permanent placement through adoption or long-term fostering. As a short-term foster carer you will offer a home to lots of different children over time.
Long-term fostering
Most children who are fostered return to their birth family, but for some this is not possible and therefore these children require a long-term foster home. Many children who need long-term homes are aged 8 years and above and often need a foster home that they can share with their brothers and sisters. Caring for a child long-term means you support them into young adulthood. This often includes supporting their contact with their birth family over the years.
Sometimes our young people stay with their foster carers after their 18th birthday, this is known as ‘Staying Put’.
Specialist Fostering Schemes
There are also a number of specialist fostering schemes that we are currently recruiting carers for:
Step Up fostering
Step Up fostering is a specialist scheme which gives children and young people the opportunity to grow up and thrive in a family environment after they have experienced a period in residential care.
The number of children and young people coming into care has increased significantly over the last few years. A shortage of foster carers has meant that many children are living in residential homes when they could, and should, be living in a family setting. Some children are as young as 8!
Emergency fostering
Every week in Birmingham, children and young people are brought into care because of an emergency situation. This could be at any time of the day or night, and often the children will come to you in a distressed state and with few, if any, belongings.
Emergency carers will look after the children for up to 72 hours; occasionally this can be longer. Children placed in emergencies vary in age from new-born babies, up to 18 years of age.
Remand fostering
Remand foster carers provide short-term care for children and young people while they await court dates for an offence they are alleged to have committed. This is an alternative to a child or young person living in custodial care before appearing in court.
Parent and Child fostering
This specialist type of fostering is when a young parent and their baby will come and live with you for a 12-week assessment period where you will observe, guide, and encourage the parent to meet their child’s day-to-day needs, whilst ensuring the child is safeguarded at all times. This gives the parent the best opportunity to then move on to live independently with their child after a period of time.
There are many reasons why a Parent and Child placement is needed, including poor mental health, a learning disability, alcohol or drug use, and domestic violence.
Children with Disabilities (CWD)
Fostering a child with disabilities means offering specialist care, nurture and support to a child who needs it most, and the impact you can have on their life is extremely positive.
There are many children in foster care who have a wide range of conditions that impact their ability to engage in everyday activities, look after themselves and thrive. This includes sensory disabilities, learning difficulties and mobility problems.
We’re looking for dedicated individuals who can provide these children with a stable, loving home and help them to manage their physical, emotional or learning disabilities and complex medical conditions.
Read more about some of the myths about fostering children with disabilities here.
Support Foster Carers
Support Foster Carers provide two types of care and support:
- Regular overnight support for an agreed period to support the main carers. This can be an overnight arrangement for a child or children for a maximum of a week or two at a time, for example during school holidays, or at weekends at regular intervals.
- Time limited support during the day to support the main carers and child or young person. This can be in a variety of situations including an urgent family commitment, help with regular transport, or taking the young person to do an activity. Children who require this type of fostering most often have a disability, additional needs or a particularly challenging behavioural issue which means the carers are under considerable pressure and would benefit from support of this kind.
