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The role of an independent fostering agency
What support is available for foster carers?
How to choose a foster care agency
Foster Care Fortnight: How to raise awareness about children in foster care
Can I choose who I foster?
How to foster
What are the benefits of fostering with an independent fostering agency?
What happens when a child is taken into care?
Fostering process: what happens on an initial home visit?
Can you foster if you have mental health issues?
Fostering with local authority vs independent agency
Interview: Life as a foster parent during the pandemic
A complete guide to becoming a foster carer
How Are Children in Foster Care Matched with Carers?
Foster Care Budgeting Tips
Becoming A Foster Carer
Benefits of becoming a foster parent
What is a Care Leaver?
What is a Foster Carer?
What is Foster Care?
Do I become a Foster Carer?
Fostering Regulations
How much do Foster Parents get paid?
How to Foster a Child
How long does it take to become a Foster Carer?
How to foster – everything you ever wanted to know
Facts about Foster Care
What are the Foster Care requirements?
Foster Care Handbook
Foster Carer Job Description
Changing IFA - Transferring to Capstone
Fostering Definition
Foster Care Statistics
What does Every Child Matters Mean for Foster Parents?
Fostering Stories
Fostering Children UK
Children needing Fostering
8 reasons why a child may be taken into care
Fostering as a Career
Looked after Children
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A guide to fostering assessments
LGBTQ+ Fostering
Equality, Inclusion & Anti-discriminatory Practice in Foster Care
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Top transferable job skills to become a foster carer
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How to foster a child: A step by step guide
How do DBS Checks Work?
Can I foster if...?
Mythbusting the top 10 Foster Care Myths
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LGBT Fostering Mythbusting
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Can I Foster A Child?
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LGBT Family and Foster Care
Fostering across Cultures
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Can I Foster?
Fostering Babies and Young Children
Fostering Babies - Myths
Focusing on Parent & Child Fostering
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Fostering Teenagers
Fostering Teenagers - Breaking down the Myths
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Mother and Baby Foster Placements
Private Fostering
Therapeutic Fostering - Multi-disciplinary Assessment Treatment & Therapy Service (MATTS)
Young Children Fostering Placements
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Reunification and Birth Parents: A Guide for Foster Carers
What is an EHC Plan? A Guide for Foster Carers
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Fostering LGBTQ+ Youth
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Anxious Disorders in Foster Children
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Foster Parent Advice: What to expect in your first year of fostering
Capstone's twelve tips at Christmas
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Celebrating our Children and Young People
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Form F Assessor and Assessment Training
Foster Care Fortnight
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Young People Charities
It begins with the time involved in becoming registered as a foster parent. This can take up to six months and it is a rigorous period as you are visited at least half a dozen times while the suitability of your home, your family circumstances, and you are assessed. You will also attend a training course.
The first aspect of your home under consideration is whether there is a spare room for a child in care. This is essential, as each child must have a separate bedroom. Your age is not a factor, other than you should be at least 21.
Your health is a consideration. You must have the energy to parent a foster child and carry out all the educational and health appointments required. All members of the household aged 18 and older undergo Disclosure and Barring Service background checks. Having a criminal record does not automatically disqualify you from being approved as a foster carer. It depends on the nature of the crime.
At the end of the assessment, a full report is provided to an independent panel for approval.
The real answer to the question about whether you become a foster carer lies within yourself. Are you motivated to pour the emotional energy into fostering? The children who will be coming into your home and your heart are often traumatised. Their own birth families cannot look after them and most of them have been removed from their homes by the local authority because they have been abused or neglected.
There has also been a rise in unaccompanied asylum seeking children in the past year.
On the plus side, as a foster parent, you know you are part of a team that is providing a child or young person a chance at having a very positive experience and at having a bright future. If all the child has known is abuse and family dysfunction, being in your home, a caring and safe place to be, the child gets to see how a functioning family behaves.
You are able to provide a home for children and young people without being concerned about the financial stress of caring for them. As a foster carer, you receive a weekly fostering allowance that pays for general household expenses, food, mileage, school meals, the child’s clothing, and pocket money.
If the child has special needs, there is a weekly fee based on those needs above and beyond the basic allowance. The average total weekly pay from an independent fostering agency can be around £400 per child per week for the allowance and the fee beyond the allowance. This is the average. If the child has physical, emotional, or mental challenges, extra expenses are covered. Our supervising social worker will be available for any concerns you have about the child’s special needs. In addition, you can claim a tax exemption for up to £10,000.
There are thousands of children who urgently need you now, and the recruitment of foster parents to support teenagers, sibling groups and children from diverse ethnic backgrounds is a priority.
If you want to know more about how to apply to become a foster carer, contact Capstone Foster Care. We would be happy to discuss our application and assessment process with you. Call us on 0800 012 4004 or simply click here.
If you’ve got any questions or would like to find out more about fostering with Capstone, fill out the form below.
An experienced fostering advisor from your local area will then be in touch.
Start the conversation today. Our team of friendly advisors are on hand to answer any foster care questions you may have. We can offer you honest and practical advice that can help you decide if becoming a foster carer is the right path for you.
