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
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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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Tips for managing foster children's bedtime routines
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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
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A Guide to the Staying Put Program
How to deal with empty nest syndrome
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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
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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
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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
Statistically, children in foster care are more than four times more likely to have Special Educational Needs than children who are not in care. As a result, they are twice as likely to need additional support for those needs.
As a foster carer, you play a vital role in supporting your foster child’s education, so it’s important to ensure their education is positive, inclusive and tailored to their needs. In this guide, we’ll explain what to do if your foster child needs additional support and what to do if their school is unable to meet their needs.
EHCP stands for an Education, Health and Care Plan, which is a legal document that is designed to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. The document identifies the areas where the child or young person requires support across education, health and social care and outlines methods of meeting the required level of assistance.
There are a number of reasons why a child might benefit from an EHC plan, specifically if they have complex needs. Some examples of scenarios where an EHCP plan might be beneficial include;
Some children may have multi-agency needs where additional support is required across different areas. Essentially, an EHC plan will be put in place if your foster child’s additional needs are holding them back in their education and their current educational setting is unable to provide enough support to meet their potential. While there is no lower age limit to an EHCP, there is an upper age limit of 25 years.
An EHC plan is usually the last point of call after intervention from your foster child’s school or teachers, such as an Individual Education Plan or a SEN Support plan.
You should consider applying for EHCP if your foster child’s needs are complex or long-term and if your foster child is struggling to make adequate progress despite the school’s best efforts. Your school might advise an EHCP if they believe your foster child requires more support than they can reasonably provide.
If you’re considering applying for an EHC plan for your foster child, you’ll need to apply through your local authority. Alternatively, your foster child’s school can also apply on your behalf.
For your application, you’ll need documented evidence, such as reports from your foster child’s school and doctor. It may also be helpful to include information from your child’s social worker in addition to a letter from you about your foster child’s needs.
Once you have submitted the information to the local authority, it will take up to 16 weeks for them to respond. If they confirm, the local authority will create an EHC plan and send you a copy. You’ll then have 15 days to comment. The whole process should take 20 weeks, from the initial request for the assessment to the final EHC plan.
Just like any child, a foster child with complex needs also needs a safe, nurturing and loving environment. Here at Capstone Foster Care, our therapeutic foster carers are supported by a Multi-Disciplinary Assessment Treatment and Therapy Service to provide foster children with mental health services at the point of need. We provide support and training to our foster carers so that you’re equipped with the tools you need to give the very best care to your foster child.
If you are thinking about becoming a foster carer and want to learn more about therapeutic fostering or fostering a child with a disability, request a brochure today and take the first step to becoming a foster carer.
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.
