Ways to foster

You may have an idea of the type of fostering you are interested in, or have a particular age range in mind. Some people are drawn to a gender or age group to fit in with their own family or based on previous experience. The amount of children you are approved to foster will depend on your situation, but usually this is no more than 3 children at one time. Although it’s good to have a preference, it is always helpful to speak to one of the team to explore your ideas and to be open to ideas about what may work for your family.  

There are many different types of foster care. Some foster carers will look after children in emergency situations. This usually means a child will stay with them overnight or for a few days. We also need respite or flexible foster carers who can foster at times they have the time to do so and care for children to support other carers or while the appropriate match is found. Others will look after children on a short term basis. This means a child stays with them for a few weeks or months, or sometimes over a year. This is until they can safely go home, to extended family or have a permanent plan to meet their needs.  

“The first half of my career was fostering younger children, similar in age to my own children. As my children grew up I then began to foster teenagers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and that’s the type of fostering that I continue to do today”.

Warwickshire foster carer, Andrea.

Some children who are in foster care are unable to return home and we need long term foster carers to provide them with a family home, all the way into adulthood and sometimes beyond. Children and young people who are in long term care require a consistent, stable home and help to enable them to develop confidence and independence for their next steps.  

We also offer very specific fostering, for people who have professional experience and can care for children who need extra support. Solo and Breathing Space fostering are salaried schemes where the young person who may have challenging behaviours is provided with a high level of supervision and support from the foster carer. 

Family link foster care is a respite arrangement where the foster carer is matched with a child with disabilities and cares for them roughly once a month for a weekend or in the school holidays. This type of fostering is also reflected in our Short Break fostering where a foster carer is matched with lots of children with additional needs to provide multiple families with much needed breaks.

There are a variety of ways you can foster, you can find more details on the types of fostering page.