What is fostering?

Foster Carers provide care for children and young people in the carer’s home, while their own parents are unable to look after them. Foster care may be needed for just a few days or for much longer. Most children return home, so foster carers need to be able to work with parents as well as children. Some children cannot return home, however, and foster carers then help children move on to adoptive parents. A few children need to stay with foster carers until they are independent.

Foster carers can choose the age and gender of the child or children they look after and can decide to foster at weekends, for short breaks or for longer periods. Foster carers work as part of a team, with people such as social workers, teachers and psychologists, to help the children they look after.

Why do children need fostering?

Children are in care through no fault of their own and only because of their family situation. Foster carers look after children so that families can have time to sort out their difficulties. These can include short-term illness or depression, but many foster children will have suffered abuse or neglect.

Who can foster?

We need people from all backgrounds to consider fostering.

You can be:

• single, married, living as a couple, divorced or widowed
• a parent or have no children
• a homeowner or living in rented housing
• employed or on benefits
• from any adult age group
• someone who has or hasn’t got childcare experience
• with or without qualifications
• of any religious faith, or none
• of any racial or cultural background
• living in or outside of Derby.

It is important that everyone in your household is committed to fostering, including your children.

What is the difference between fostering and adoption?

Adoption is a way of providing permanent new families for children who cannot live with their own families. An adoption order ends the child’s legal relationship with their original family and makes the new parents the child’s legal parents.

Fostering is usually a temporary way of offering children a home until they can return to their own families. Maintaining links with the child’s family are very important whilst planning and decisions are made about the future, and the foster carer is very important in helping the child to understand and cope with the situation they find themselves in.

 

Are there different types of fostering?

Children of all ages need fostering. Some foster carers look after babies and infants but others care for school-age children, groups of brothers and sisters or children with special needs, including disabled children.

Some foster carers provide ‘time-limited’ care, which can be brief, during an illness or family crisis, or longer – up to two years – whilst legal proceedings determine the child’s future.

Some foster carers look after children on a long-term basis. These children are often older children, who do not want to be adopted but need a permanent home base away from family until they can live independently.

While other foster carers offer ‘short breaks’ or ‘link care’ so that families who have a disabled child or a child with special needs can have a break, and their child can benefit from new friends and new experiences.

Children First is a long-term fostering scheme for children with disabilities.

Do foster carers get any financial help?

Derby City Council gives all foster carers a fostering allowance to cover the costs of looking after a child. The amount varies according to the age of the child. For example, a child aged from 0 to 4 years of age will have an allowance of £121 a week, a child from 5 to 10 years of age will have an allowance of £136, a child from 11 years of age to 15 years of age will have an allowance of £159 a week and a child aged from 16 to 18 years of age will have an allowance of £187 a week. In addition, skilled carers, caring for a child with additional needs, often with challenging behaviour, will qualify for our fostering scheme, and will receive fees ranging from £75 to £175 a week in addition to the allowance.

Children First carers also receive a fee of around £125 a week and an allowance and they may also be entitled to receive additional State benefits such as Disability Living Allowance.

What other help do foster carers get?

Foster carers have 4 days training as preparation for the task, and are offered on-going training. They have the opportunity to achieve a childcare qualification. A clinical psychologist is available for consultations with carers.

Derby City Council operates a 24-hour telephone support and advice line for foster carers.

Foster Carers can also get a Leisure Pass that gives them, their children and the children they look after, free use of facilities at Derby City Council Leisure / Sports Centres during weekends and other off-peak times.

How long does it take to become a foster carer?

It can take around six months from your initial enquiry to being approved as a foster carer. During this period a social worker will arrange meetings with you, your children, and other adults in your household, to give you more information about fostering. There will be opportunities for you to ask any questions about fostering and for us to find out more information about you. The social worker will discuss the most suitable type of fostering for you. At any stage you can decide if you wanted to continue with your interest in fostering.

As part of your application you will be asked to complete an application form and a number of references will be requested. These include references from friends and employers and a check with the Criminal Records Bureau. We will write to your doctor, and you will need to have a medical.

The assessment period is made as easy as possible to fit in with your arrangements and the information is communicated in a clear and easy to understand style. However, attendance at the 4 day preparation course is essential.

What are the rewards of fostering?

Fostering can sometimes be challenging, but it can also be very enjoyable and rewarding. Foster carers have the chance to make a positive and lasting difference to a young person’s life and will make him or her feel more confident about their future.

How can you contact us?

Derby City Council
Fostering Team
Fostering and Adoption Centre
Perth Street Office
Derby
DE21 6XX
Telephone: 01332 718000
Fax: 01332 206184
Minicom: 01332 206182
E-mail: fostering@derby.gov.uk

Alternatively, you can complete our online form and we will send you a fostering pack.

Derby City Council's Statement of Purpose for Fostering  - 56kb

Further Information:

 British Association of Adoption and Fostering

 Fostering Network