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
Private fostering arrangements can also be made for the care of a child over 16, if that child is disabled. The arrangement is made between the child’s parent with the intention that the arrangement should last for 28 days or more and that it is considered to be a continuous arrangement.
Not everyone can be a private foster carer for a specific child. A parent or close relative cannot become a private foster parent. A close relative is defined under the Children Act 1989 as a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt (whether of full blood or half blood or by marriage) or step-parent. If a close relative becomes involved in caring for the child, it is considered kinship care. A member of the extended family such as a cousin or great aunt can be a foster carer.
Parental consent for private fostering is expected although there are certain circumstances such as an unaccompanied asylum seeker or a trafficked child where young people are able to make their own arrangements. One of the common situations involves young people choosing to drift from a friend’s place to another friend’s place, relying on those families for food and shelter. It may be that their home life is not working out well for them and they don’t know how to look for support from schools or relevant agencies. It helps to know how the law can help. If you are aware of a child in need of assistance, notify children’s social care.
A privately fostered child can be vulnerable which is why the National Minimum Standards for Private Fostering 2005 were established to allow the local authority to assess private carers. Prior to this, there was no requirement for anyone to check up on the welfare of a child in such a situation. The National Minimum Standards guidelines set out the role of the local authority in private fostering which is to ensure that the arrangement safeguards the child.
Parents and carers should notify the local authority when a private fostering arrangement is made. Even though the local authority is not involved in the parent’s decision to place the child with a private carer, it is responsible to make sure that the new home meets the needs of the child.
In private fostering, the parent or the person with parental responsibility is the one who makes any decisions about the child even though the child is not living with them. The parent may delegate some decisions to the private foster carer. It makes daily life easier if the fostering parent can decide on immunisations, visits to the doctor or dentist, and school trips without consulting the parent. However, if the parent decides to override the decision that was made, he or she can do so.
When it comes to the question of who is responsible for the financial care of the child, that is the responsibility of the parent. The private foster carer can check into what, if any, welfare benefits to which they might be entitled because the child is living in their household such as a Child Tax Credit but the parent is the one who is responsible for the cost of maintaining the child.
If you would like more information or advice, contact Capstone Foster Care or your local authority. Privately fostering a child can be rewarding but it can also be challenging to work with a child, providing education and other services without having decision-making rights.
Capstone Foster Care can be contacted 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.
