Thinking of becoming a foster carer? How do you find out which fostering providers to approach?

As with anything in life, when it comes to becoming a foster carer, you should do your research. As a foster carer, you will need excellent support so you should look for local fostering providers who offer quality, 24 hour support. Smaller agencies are often better placed to offer quality, tailored support.

The Fostering Network have a tool on their website that allows you to search for local fostering providers. Moreover the internet is an excellent source of information. However, you need to know what you are looking for when deciding which fostering provider might best suit you and your individual needs.

I want to become a foster carer, shall I approach a fostering agency or the Local Authority?

Deciding who you want to foster with is a personal choice. The Local Authority prefer to place children with their in-house foster carers and will give them priority. Therefore you might get a greater choice of children. Increasingly, however, due to the shortage in foster carers, fostering agencies also receive a high number of requests.

The main difference between fostering agencies and Local Authorities is in the quality and level of support you will receive. In particular, smaller agencies such as Eastern Fostering Services will know you, your family and the children you foster very well. This means that when you need to call for help, you will speak to a team member who knows your situation – no need for lengthy explanations!

I have found some fostering providers – what now?

Ask yourself, are these people you could work with?

You can contact fostering providers by phone, email or web enquiry form. Indeed some fostering providers can be found on Facebook. Simply get in touch with them and ask them for more information.

Fostering providers should offer you the chance to talk either over the phone or face to face.

Here is a quick suggestion of what you might ask them:

What support do you offer carers?

Can you tell me about your matching process?

How does the assessment process work?

What positive outcomes do you achieve for children?

What training and development do you offer?

Which children do you need carers for?

In turn, Fostering providers might ask you:

Why do you want to foster?

Are there birth children living at home?

Do you have a spare room available for fostering?

Have you got experience working with children or vulnerable adults?

What type of child (age, gender etc.) do you feel would suit you best?

What do you do for a living?

Can you drive?

Do you have a criminal record?

A more in-depth conversation is now needed.

When you have decided which fostering provider(s) might be the best fit for you, you can request a home visit. This is a great opportunity for you to ask any other questions. In addition you can get an even better feel for the fostering provider. Ask yourself, are these people you could work with?

To get the best out of your home visit, keep your eyes open for our next blog: Becoming a Foster carer, step 2 – the home visit. You can access all our blogs from our homepage.

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Fostering is hard but rewarding

Becoming a foster carer is one of the bravest steps you can take. It is a job that takes place in your home, 24/7. Fostering will require you to make changes to your life. Not only will you be fostering the most vulnerable children in society but you will be working within a difficult system too. It’s hard work. BUT the rewards are beyond anything you could expect in any other job. If you’re in two minds about fostering, simply ask yourself, “in what other job can I transform lives?” With the right support, from the right fostering agency, fostering can be a joy.

When you become a foster carer your life will change too!

As with any big life change, foster carers need to learn to live differently. When you apply to foster, you will open your life up to examination. It is important that foster carers realise that no-one is judging them. You are not expected to be saintly! Fostering providers need to check that you have what it takes to foster and that you are offering the best standard of care for the child. However within that, it is understood that you are an individual with your own approach and you should be free to add your uniqueness to the fostering process. Any good provider will nurture you as an individual and support you to foster in the best way you can.

If you’re in two minds about fostering, simply ask yourself, “in what other job can I transform lives?”

You may lose some friends but you’ll gain some too.

Not everyone will understand the changes that will happen in your life when you foster. Many of your friends will want to support you; undoubtedly friends like this are gems and will form an important part of your support network. But there will be others who don’t understand that you may need to cancel plans at the last minute. They might not understand your motivations and feel left out. It is important that you can be part of a fostering community. Making friends with other carers will ensure that you feel understood and supported. Take advantage of the fostering communities offered to you by your fostering provider.

You will surprise yourself.

Fostering gives you endless opportunity to learn about yourself. The children that you care for will provoke all manner of reactions in you! Some children may cause your own unresolved issues to surface. It is for this reason that you must choose a fostering provider who will offer excellent support and supervision. But it’s not all bad! When you foster, you will discover strengths you did not know you had. As you help children to heal, you too will grow, learn and develop as a person.

In a world where kindness and understanding can be hard to find, one often sees them alive and kicking in fostering families.

Fostering will make your life richer.

We all know that good foster carers can transform the lives of children. This is one of the main motivations of good foster carers. Yet, it is also true to say that fostering will transform and enrich the lives of fostering families. Foster carers often tell us that their birth children have become more resilient, more empathetic and more emotionally intelligent. Both children and adults who foster learn something vital about their own humanity and that of others who are different to them. In a world where kindness and understanding can be hard to find, one often sees them alive and kicking in fostering families.

If you think that you have what it takes to become a foster carer, we have lots of information on our website, including some excellent fostering seminars. Find out more about fostering here.

We also post information about Eastern Fostering Services events on our Facebook page. See if there is a fostering event near to you!

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This May sees the start of Foster Care Fortnight, the UK’s biggest awareness raising campaign for foster care.

In the UK, it is estimated that over 8000 additional fostering families are needed .

“In the East of England alone, we need over 600 additional carers to allow us to provide well matched foster carers to the children who need them,” says Eleanor Vanner of Eastern Fostering Services, an agency who look after children across Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. “Every 20 minutes in the UK another child comes into care needing a fostering family; it’s vital that we have a good pool of carers for these children.”

Fostering offers children and young people the opportunity for secure, safe and nurturing homes when they are unable to live with their birth families. Indeed good foster care can help transform the lives of children who have experienced loss and trauma in their early lives.

So what makes a good foster carer?

“There are several things that we look for in potential foster carers,” says Lucy Stevens who recruits carers for Eastern Fostering Services. “Foster carers are expected to support, listen to and advocate for children. They need to be empathetic, good communicators, patient, kind, warm, nurturing, strong and determined. They need to be able to work with a wide range of individuals and professionals. They need to be resilient and perhaps most importantly of all be in possession of a good sense of humour!”

All foster carers need to fulfil some basic criteria. They must:

• Be at least 21 years old
• Have a spare bedroom big enough for a young person to live in
• Be a full time resident in the UK or have leave to remain
• Be able to commit in terms of time to the child they are looking after

Think you could #changeafuture? What do you do next?

If you think you meet the basic criteria required to foster and that you have many of the qualities that foster carers need to have; and if you live in Essex, Suffolk or Cambridgeshire contact Eastern Fostering Services at team@easternfosteringservices.com We have lots of useful resources both on our website; try https://eastern-fostering-services.com/faqs/ and on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/EasternFosteringServices.

We also hold regular local drop-in information mornings, details of which can be found at www.facebook.com/EasternFosteringServices/events

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We hold regular events for people who are seeking information about fostering. Often we have some of our carers with us who are more than happy to share their experiences of fostering.

When you are looking into fostering it is important that you do as much fact finding as possible. Equally, it’s vital that you get a feel for how well the agency will support you.

When is the nearest fostering event to me?

Keep an eye on our Facebook events page for future events around Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Equally, let us know you’d be interested in dropping in and we can arrange something with you!

www.facebook.com/EasternFosteringServices/events

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