Children and young people

Being a foster carer involves caring for a child in your own home. This may be for a short period of a few months or for a longer time. In some instances, children and teenagers can need foster care through until they become young adults.

Working with children and their families is a highly responsible and demanding job that requires a high level of relevant skill and commitment. The process of becoming a foster carer reflects these factors, which are endorsed through references, training and a detailed home assessment. Fostering will have an impact on all family members and persons within the home. They will be part of the assessment process to varying degrees.

Subject to approval, each registered foster carer is allocated a named fostering social worker, who supervises them and their family in caring for the child.

What does fostering involve?

The child to be looked after may be experiencing a very stressful time in their lives.

The circumstances that require their removal from home, together with the effect of being separated from family members, friends, pets and familiar surroundings, could leave them with a range of emotions, from loss to guilt, anger or fear. Many children present behavioural difficulties as a result of this intervention.

To meet these needs, foster carers must be able to react and respond to a wide variety of situations and circumstances. Patience, understanding, good communication and commitment are fundamental skills required to enable a child or teenager come to terms with their own personal experiences. Such skills are also required to help carers understand and manage child behaviour.

An essential facet of being a foster carer is to be willing to work with the child’s family. Carers must be flexible and able to respond to different issues and also have the ability to carry forward the identified tasks established in the child’s care plan.

Other aspects of the work require foster carers to represent a child at meetings and reviews, promote contact between the child and his or her own family and contribute to the assessment of the child’s needs.

As a foster carer you will be involved as a member of a team, all of whom work to meet the needs of the child.

Different types of fostering

There are many different types of fostering, varying in length of stay and the needs of the child or young person. Priority is given to those people who come forward to respond to an individual child’s needs or who are able to offer a particular range of care depending on the child’s age, such as children up to 10 years old, five to 16 years old or over 11 years old. Currently Medway Council's Fostering Team needs foster carers for:

• short-term fostering: for children up to 10 years old and brothers and sisters who wish to stay together;
• teenage fostering: for young people between 11 and 16 years old;
• long-term fostering: for named children who need a permanent home;
• special needs fostering: for children with a disability or learning difficulty;
• mother and baby: for young mothers or families who need an assessment of their parenting abilities.

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