Types of Foster Care
There are many different types of placements and some fostering services offer some or all of the full range. If you are considering adopting your foster child please see I Want to Express An Interest in Adopting My Foster Child.
Children may be placed in task centred foster care for a number of reasons. We may need to place a child with you whilst we draw up a longer-term plan for his or her upbringing or carry out a period of assessments. If it's possible, we aim to return the child to his/her own family within three months, but sometimes this just can't be done. In some cases, children in task centred care need to be looked after for up to 2 years, and it's important that you help them to maintain links with their family during this time.
Sometimes children aren't able to go back and live with their own families, even though they may want to. That's when we look at placing them into long-term foster care, often until adulthood. It's a big responsibility, but also a fabulous chance to offer a stable, safe and supportive environment where a child will feel loved and cared for and be a part of your family. You may need to help the child in your care to keep in touch with his or her family.
Second home care gives a child's family a break - perhaps for a few hours, a weekend or a longer break. It's also used for emergency situations, such as a lone parent being admitted to hospital unexpectedly. But most of the time second home foster care is pre-planned so you will know exactly when a child or young person is coming to stay with you and for how long. The term ‘second home’ was chosen by Rotherham’s Looked After Children’s Council to describe the kind of environment they would like to be in when staying away from their main foster carer for a short period of time.
This Fostering Service is for children and young people placed on Remand by the Courts. It's probably one of the toughest areas of foster care - but can also be one of the most rewarding. It also incorporates a PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence) Facility.
This scheme provides short breaks, in partnership with parents, for children and young people with a disability.
It's important for families of disabled children to have an occasional break, whether for a day, a weekend or during the school holidays. After all, parents need to spend time with their other children or just each other, knowing that their child is happy and well cared for in a loving family home.
Families Together caring is a planned process and usually you'll care for a disabled child for regular, short periods. We also hope that you will establish a good bond with the child's family over time. This type of foster care gives you the incredible opportunity to look after many different children and young people with their own personalities and needs.
Please don't think that you haven't got the experience, skills or knowledge to look after a disabled child. We'll provide all the training and full support you need to make a real difference by giving families a break and young people a great experience in your home.
For more information please see The Families Together Scheme.
Day Fostering can help parents in need by providing their child with a safe place to be cared for during the day whilst they attend courses or go out to work.
For parents and their babies/children who are in need of support and assessment of their parenting skills.
Emergency carers provide time-limited placements for a child/young person in emergencies, these placements usually happen out of office hours.
Private fostering is when a child/young person under 16 (or under 18 if disabled) is cared for, for more than 28 days by an adult who is not a close relative and the arrangement has been made between the carer and the parent.
Where brothers and sisters are placed together.
Foster carers who provide placements for a child/young person seeking sanctuary and asylum from their own country of origin.
Staying Put arrangements are arrangements to extend the foster placements into a ’Staying Put‘ arrangement by agreement between the care leaver and the carer, in order to support the young person until such time that they are fully prepared for adulthood. The young person will no longer be cared for under the fostering regulations as the Staying Put arrangement occurs when the young person turns 18 and the young person is no longer a Looked After Child. The arrangement ensures the young adult can experience a transition similar to their peers, avoid social exclusion and be more likely to successfully manage their independence when they do move on. Your supervising social worker will discuss this with you when your foster child reaches the age 16 years as part of their care planning.
On approval the fostering service will decide on how many children you are approved for, what age, gender and category of approval. There are times, however, when the fostering service may ask you to take a child/young person outside your approval range if it is felt this would be way to meet the child's needs.
When this happens the fostering service can vary your approval for a short time either to allow for longer term plans to be made or for a review of your approval as a foster carer to be done so that your terms of approval can be changed in order to accommodate the child for a longer period.
The 'usual fostering limit' is three, which means that nobody may foster more than 3 children unless:
- The foster children are all siblings (then there is no upper limit); or
- The local authority within whose area the foster carer lives exempts them from the usual fostering limit.
In considering whether to exempt a person from the usual fostering limit, the local authority must consider:
- The number of children whom the person proposes to foster;
- The arrangements which the person proposes for the care and accommodation of the fostered children;
- The intended and likely relationship between the person and the fostered children;
- The period of time for which he proposes to foster the children; and
- Whether the welfare of the fostered children (and any other children who are or will be living in the accommodation) will be safeguarded and protected.
You will need to agree to any exemption. You will be informed in writing of the exemption, the name(s) of the child/ren to whom the exemption applies and of any conditions applying to the exemption.
Your supervising social worker must complete an exemption report and present it to the fostering team manager for discussion.
The report will then be submitted to the service manager and then to the agency decision maker for approval. If the agency decision maker is not available, another director should be approached. No exemption can be made without authorisation by one of the named managers.
The fostering panel must be notified of all exemptions.
Last Updated: August 23, 2024
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