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
According to the report from the Department for Education on Children looked after in England for the year ending 31 March 2016, the number of looked after children continues to increase. At the end of March 2016, there was an increase of 1% over the previous year and 5% compared to 2012. Of the total of 70,440 looked after children at 31 March 2016, 51,850 (74%) were cared for in a foster placement.
There is a change in the ages of children in care. There is an increase in the number and proportion of older children — 62% of children looked after were 10 years old and over in 2016. In 2012, 56% of the children in care were 10 and older. Meanwhile, the percentage of looked after children aged 1-4 years dropped from 18% in 2012 to 13% in 2016. The number of infants under 1 year dropped from 6% in 2012 to 5% in 2016.
It is important to know how the law works regarding taking children into care. Looked after children in the UK are dealt with under the Children Act 1989. These regulations specify the steps that the court takes when there is reason to believe that a child is in danger. If the level of risk is high, the court may step in and begin care proceedings at once.
Otherwise, all efforts are made to keep children in their family homes. The process begins with a letter before proceedings being sent to the parents, inviting them to come with their lawyer to attend a pre-proceedings meeting with the local authority to discuss what the parents can do to better look after the child. The local authority explains the support and help it can provide to facilitate the parents keeping the child in the family home.
If a plan can be worked out, a formal agreement is drawn up and the parents and the local authority agree to follow this plan. If the parents won’t agree to the changes, or if they do agree and then don’t follow the agreement, local authorities can ask the court to take the child into care.
If the court agrees with the local authority that the child should be taken into care, the court makes the order, which gives the local authority parental responsibility and the local authority then becomes responsible for the health, wellbeing, guidance, and education of the child or young person.
Local authority accommodation arrangements are provided either by the LA’s own registered foster carers or by an independent fostering agency such as Capstone Foster Care which recruits, assesses, and trains its own team of registered foster carers.
Children’s protection involves having them placed in a secure social setting where their needs are met, where they feel safe and loved, where they are provided with all that they need for positive outcomes in their lives.
Contact Capstone Foster Care to find out how you can become involved in fostering.
For more information about becoming a foster carer, contact 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.
