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
Can you foster if you smoke or vape?
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
Can I foster if I have pets?
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
Sikh Fostering
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
What is an EHC Plan? 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
What are the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services?
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
What happens if foster parents get divorced?
5 ways to manage Mother's Day with foster children
Tips for managing foster children's bedtime routines
How to handle foster child bullying
Fostering allowances and the gender pay gap
What discounts can foster carers get?
How to adopt from Foster Care
5 ways to manage Father's Day for children in foster care
8 most common fostering challenges
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
Movies About Foster Care
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
Can you take a foster child on holiday?
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
Could Millenials be the solution to the Foster Care crisis?
Do you work in Emergency Services?
Form F Assessor and Assessment Training
Foster Care Fortnight
Improving Children's Welfare - Celebrating Universal Children's Day
It's time to talk about Mental Health and Foster Care
New Year - New Career - Become a Foster Carer
Promoting the rights and wellbeing of persons with Disabilities
Refugee Week
Young people and Mental Health in a changing world
Young People Charities
Foster parents play a crucial role in providing support and care for children who are unable to live with their biological parents. This guide explains the “Every Child Matters” initiative, which sets out to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children, and key take-aways for foster parents.
The “Every Child Matters” initiative is a policy brought in by the UK Government in 2003, which aims to improve the well-being of children and young people. There are five outcomes that matter most to children. The 5 key outcomes of Every Child Matters are:
The “Every Child Matters” initiative was subsequently incorporated into the Child Act 2004, which established a framework for improving the welfare of children and young people in the UK.
Here at Capstone Foster Care, we consider these positive outcomes as a foundation to fostering. Families fostering children and young people will be trained in the skills that enable them to provide the type of atmosphere that helps foster children to achieve these fostering outcomes.
A great deal of a child’s potential outcome relies on educational achievement. Education, as well as the other components of what creates the potential for positive outcomes, depends primarily on the child’s home environment. The length of care can vary depending on the foster child’s circumstances and this can be hard for children to understand. Especially when they don’t know when they might be able to go back to their own family.
As a foster carer, it’s your job to help the child feel safe and welcome in their new home and to work with other professionals to make sure their needs are being met. In the early days of placement, it may be hard to make plans for the child’s future because there is still so much unknown about the long-term plans for the child. It’s important to take things one step at a time and focus on creating a positive and supportive environment for the child.
Optimum fostering outcomes depend on the children and young people in care having the support that they need. In order for the opportunity to develop a positive outcome, here at Capstone we provide full training and support for all types of fostering. Including the Multi-disciplinary Assessment Treatment and Therapy Service (MATTS), our training gives foster carers an extra level of support in providing therapeutic care and helps children to find the confidence to make a positive contribution, and provide tools that encourage good mental health.
To meet the ideal outcomes which are encompassed in the five outcomes mentioned above, foster parents should be able to promote healthy living through proper nutrition and exercise, good economic training such as learning how to manage money , and allow children to enjoy and achieve through being involved in social activities such as sports and music.
These are lifestyle choices that become part of the child’s learning and living experience that will continue beyond childhood and into adulthood.
When a child is in foster care, it’s important for them to have a supportive, safe and loving environment where they can grow and learn. As a foster family, you can help the child make positive progress by modelling good choices and values for them. This can help them to develop healthy emotional and physical habits that create a sense of well-being. By providing opportunities for the child to learn and grow you can help them build a strong foundation for their future.
If there are birth children in the household as well, there are additional benefits in fostering for them. Being involved as part of a fostering family, provides them with an experience that teaches them empathy and compassion.
Care orders expire on the young person’s 18th birthday enabling them to leave the fostering experience. However, in May of 2014, a staying put policy was enacted. This allows children who reach the age of 18 to remain living with their foster carers. The carers are paid less to support the children as they move forward in education or in employment.
If you want to learn more about the benefits of fostering with Capstone Foster Care read our helpful guide. Or, if you’d like to learn more about how to become a foster carer, find out more by requesting one of our expert guides. Alternatively, if you feel ready to become a foster carer, contact us now or give us a call on 0800 012 4004
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.
