Fostering a disabled child
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
What can disqualify you from foster care?
Can you foster if you’re on benefits?
Top transferable job skills to become a foster carer
Fostering as a same sex couple
Fostering while renting
Is there an age limit for fostering in the UK?
Do foster carers get a pension?
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
Can I foster if I am disabled?
LGBT Fostering Mythbusting
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Can I Foster A Child?
Can I Foster and Work?
Can you Foster with a Criminal Record
Can Single People Foster?
LGBT Family and Foster Care
Fostering across Cultures
Muslim Fostering
Christian Foster Care
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Empty Nest Syndrome and Foster Care
Can I Foster?
Fostering Babies and Young Children
Fostering Babies - Myths
Focusing on Parent & Child Fostering
Fostering Siblings
Fostering Teenagers
Fostering Teenagers - Breaking down the Myths
Fostering Unaccompanied and Asylum Seeking Children
Mother and Baby Foster Placements
Private Fostering
Therapeutic Fostering - Multi-disciplinary Assessment Treatment & Therapy Service (MATTS)
Young Children Fostering Placements
Difference between short and long-term fostering
Reunification and Birth Parents: A Guide for Foster Carers
How to prepare a child for becoming a care leaver
Children who foster: impact of fostering on birth children
Fostering LGBTQ+ Youth
How to prepare your home for a foster child
How to help a lonely child: A Guide for Foster Carers
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10 tips for foster children's education
How to prepare your foster child for secondary school
Tips for coping when foster placements end
Tips for foster parents during Coronavirus
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Fostering allowances and the gender pay gap
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How to adopt from Foster Care
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FosterTalk Membership with Capstone Foster Care
Supporting foster children's contact with birth families
A guide to independent fostering
Keeping Children Safe Online: A Guide For Foster Carers
Foster Care in TV and Film
Play-based learning strategies for foster carers
A Guide to the Staying Put Program
How to deal with empty nest syndrome
How to recognise signs of depression in foster children
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Tips and advice on fostering with a disability
10 tips on connecting with your Foster Child
Fostering vs Adoption - What's the difference?
How Fostering can change a future
How to adopt from Foster Care
How to encourage children to read in Foster Care
How to prepare a Foster Child's bedroom
Reading and Storytelling with Babies and Young Children
Supporting Children's Learning
The 20 most recommended books Foster Carers and young people should read
Things you can do when your children leave home
The impact of early childhood traumas on adolescence and adulthood
Anxious Disorders in Foster Children
What is sexual abuse and sexual violence
Foster Child behaviour management strategies
Foster Parent Advice: What to expect in your first year of fostering
Capstone's twelve tips at Christmas
10 celebrities who grew up in Foster Care
Celebrating our Children and Young People
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Do you work in Emergency Services?
Form F Assessor and Assessment Training
Foster Care Fortnight
Improving Children's Welfare - Celebrating Universal Children's Day
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Promoting the rights and wellbeing of persons with Disabilities
Refugee Week
Young people and Mental Health in a changing world
Young People Charities
For instance, there are facts about the application process, facts about the regulations, facts about the demand for foster carers, facts about the areas where foster carers are urgently needed, facts about the latest trends in foster care, to mention just a few ways in which one can look at the very crucial concept of helping vulnerable children and young people transition into adults with positive outcomes in life.
This article will take a quick overview of the essential components of the pertinent facts for people who are considering fostering as a career choice. If you are thinking about being a foster carer, the first facts you need to know are that your marital status is not a factor, nor is your gender orientation.
As for age, ideally you’ll be over 21, other than that, age is not a factor. Your health is a factor. You need to be in good shape to care for energetic youngsters. You also need to have adequate space in your home for each child to have his or her own room.
These are the preliminary factors when deciding to become a foster carer. What about the need for foster carers?
According to The Fostering Network, on any given day in the UK, there are 83,000 children and young persons in care. 72% of these children are living with foster families. That's more than 65,000 children live with almost 55,000 foster families across the UK each day. The turnover rate is about 30,000 children entering into care and about as many leaving care.
Not all of the children leaving foster care are returned to their home or a relative’s home. Some have aged out of care, some are adopted, and others are placed under a residence or special guardianship order.
There is a shortfall of about 10,000 placements at any given time. When you step back from the statistics and consider the reality of 10,000 vulnerable children without a foster home, the impact can be overwhelming. The main reason local authorities remove children from their birth home is neglect and abuse.
Some children in foster care are removed from their families at birth but the majority of the children in care are aged between 10-15 years old. Often, all the kids in a family are taken into care together. Research has shown that when siblings are not separated but kept together in a placement, it increases the children’s chance at having a better future.
These statistics are from March 2020 but there is a similarity between the 2019 figures and the 2018 and 2017 figures.
Government acts and regulations provide guidance to fostering services which includes the monitoring, training, review, assessment and approval of foster carers. The primary focus is on providing safety, security, education, health and welfare for a child or young person in care.
The government has a recommended basic weekly allowance for each child in care. This covers general household expenses, food, mileage, school meals, the child’s clothing, and pocket money. There is a weekly fee beyond this based on the child’s special needs. Independent agencies such as Capstone Foster Care often surpass the amounts recommended as the compensation paid to foster carers.
If you want to know about fostering, the available support for foster carers, and what it takes to be a foster carer, contact Capstone Foster Care 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.
