Blogs
Having blogged for many years about fostering and raising children I have more recently looked at ways in which adults and young people can achieve happiness and contentment. Last time we looked at taking responsibility for our lives and this time I would look at what can be achieved when we do so.
Proud to foster and proud to support fostering. Here is Kevin Williams, The Fostering Network's chief executive, closing statement as Foster Care FortnightTM draws to an end after two fabulous weeks.
Fantastic, you’ve been through the process of pre-approval training, assessment and panel and now you’ve been approved as a foster carer. That’s great news. But what can you expect next?
Melissa Green is our director of operations, with a responsibility for our projects and programmes and our work across England. Here she looks at the year past, the year ahead and thanks foster families for the change they bring to the lives of the children and young people they care for.
So, you’ve made the decision that you’d like to become a foster carer. You think you have the right skills and experience, you have the desire to offer a safe and caring home to a child or young person…and, of course, you have a spare room. Now what happens?
Becoming a foster carer will typically take around eight months from the first enquiry. There is a series of visits and assessments with a social worker before and final interview with a panel which will make a decision as to whether you will be approved to foster.
This sounds quite onerous, but it’s a very important part of your fostering journey – it gives you plenty of time to ask questions and reflect on what it will mean being a foster carer (not just for you, but for your family and friends), and allows your fostering service to ensure that you are going to be a good foster carer.
This blog gives a summary of the various stages of becoming a foster carer. For more comprehensive information read our frequently asked questions.
Kathleen Toner is The Fostering Network's director in Northern Ireland. Here, as part of Foster Care Fortnight, she reflects on the impact that the foster and kinship foster families have on the lives of the children and young people in their care
I love Foster Care Fortnight!
As chief executive of The Fostering Network I spend a significant amount of time talking about, and trying to find solutions to, the many things that need to happen to make foster care the very best it can be for foster families and the children they care for – whether that be, for example, relating to the 15 extra hours free childcare being extended to fostered children in England, the introduction of a minimum fostering allowance in Scotland, or the status and professionalization of foster carers. Of course, that doesn’t stop during Foster Care Fortnight, but over these next 14 days the emphasis is rightly on celebration.
