Why Foster?
Let’s explore the reasons for entering fostering, and look at what it takes to become a foster parent
Why foster?
Children and young people come into foster care for all kinds of reasons. For many, their main caregiver (parent) is not physically or emotionally available to care for them. For others, they have suffered abuse and neglect at the hands of their main caregivers or have not been kept safe or given what they need to grow up and achieve what other children have. However, for whatever reason children and young people enter the care system, many will have suffered trauma and loss.
For this reason, foster parents are needed to offer safe, loving and compassionate care for these children. To help children and young people to try and rebuild their lives, to help them regain their trust in adults, help them discover their identity and form long-lasting relationships whilst making sense of their past. Foster parents need to be carefully selected and will enter into a detailed, informative assessment with an experienced and qualified social worker. This specially allocated social worker will really get to know you and your family and work with you through all of the processes of becoming a foster parent and what this means. Along with training, we will fully support you to learn about therapeutic parenting and how the child or young person’s experiences affect their behaviour and how to manage this behaviour.
What does it take to foster?
There are no special or unusual qualities to become a foster parent, and certainly no formal educational qualifications. Due to the diverse nature of the children that need fostering, the agency also looks out for a variety of family types, regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, relationship status, sexuality, number of existing children or household income.
Minimum requirements are listed below:
- Honesty throughout the assessment process
- That you have a spare bedroom
- You are a British citizen or have permanent leave to stay
- You can foster full-time, or your work must be very flexible
- You are at least 21 (No upper age limit)
Remember you don’t have to own your own home and you don’t have to have had your own children.
Families First Fostering’s main aim is to give a child or young person a loving and safe home - to create a situation where you, and the child, are happy. Why not get in touch with the team today to find out more.