Fostering a disabled child
The role of an independent fostering agency
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
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
Fostering Assessment
Fostering Outcomes
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
Top transferable job skills to become a foster carer
Fostering as a same sex couple
Fostering while renting
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 you Foster and Work?
Can you Foster with a Criminal Record
Fostering as a Single Parent
LGBT Family and Foster Care
Fostering across Cultures
Muslim Fostering
Christian Foster Care
Sikh
Empty Nest Syndrome and Foster Care
10 things you can do when your Children fly the nest
Can I Foster?
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
How to prepare a child for becoming a care leaver
Children who foster: impact of fostering on birth children
How to prepare your home for a foster child
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
Tips for keeping foster children safe online
How to adopt from Foster Care
5 ways to manage Father’s Day with foster children
8 most common fostering challenges
Supporting foster children’s contact with birth families
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 versus 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
Online grooming - unwanted contact and how to identify it
Reading and storytelling with Babies and young Children
Supporting Children's Learning
Technology and Internet Safety advice
The 20 most recommended books Foster Carers and young people should read
The impact of early childhood traumas on adolescence and adulthood
Tips for coping with attachment disorders in Foster Children
Tips for supporting reunification in Foster Care
Together for a better Internet - Web Safety for 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
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.
