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
Sexual orientation doesn’t matter nor does it matter if you are single or couples. Fostering can transform your life as well as making a dramatic and positive change in the life of a child.
One same-sex couple described how they came to Capstone Foster Care. While sitting around the pool on holiday in Cyprus, the couple were continuing a discussion they had been having for 10 years – having their own children. Being men, having their own children was a bit of a challenge.
That day, “we wondered if fostering was something we could do!? Could we open our home to troubled kids?” There were so many questions. “Could we care for vulnerable children? And if we did, would we be strong enough to say “Goodbye” when the time came?”
There are different types of fostering placement such as placements for disabled children, placements for sanctuary-seeking children, short-term foster placements, long-term foster placements, and parent and child placements. So many possibilities, and so many questions. The couple made the decision to “get the ball rolling” when they returned from their holiday.
They called Capstone Foster Care. “It was amazing!!! …because it was all completely new to us, we knew we wanted a fostering agency that could offer a lot of ongoing support, and we instantly (literally) felt like we had it!”
“I remember being extremely nervous when the whole process began… it was all so new and unknown to us. After one phone call to Capstone, that ‘ball’ was well and truly rolling. We had initial meetings set up, we had packs sent through the post to us, and we suddenly had a reel of phone numbers to ring if we had any questions or queries.”
“The ‘process’ to get us to approval was the part we completely dreaded. We thought it would be gruelling and we thought it would take forever, and we weren’t looking forward to it at all!” This is a common misconception about the application and registration process.
“We couldn’t have been more wrong!!!! It ended up being such an easy, gentle process, with numerous visits from social workers and assessors over the coming months who would assist us in all the aspects we were required to fulfil. It really felt like a supportive, guided process and before we knew it, in March 2015, 6 months after that first phone call, we went to panel and were approved as foster carers!”
A month later, they had their first placement, a 14 year old boy. “In September of 2015 we returned to Cyprus on holiday and it felt so amazing to be there, sat around that same pool where we had been discussing the possibility of fostering 12 months earlier, but this time we sat there, with our foster son!”
Their foster son is still with them, along with a 6 year old boy who joined the family early in 2016. “It is so incredible to see just how well both boys are doing, and just how far they have come in such a short amount of time… making that decision to foster was the best decision we could have ever made.”
When individuals become registered foster carers and welcome a child or young person into the family, the experience can change their lives in a positive manner just as it improves the life of the child or young person.
Are you interested in becoming a foster carer? Capstone Foster Care is seeking foster carers. Give us a call 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.
