Foster care
National
Minimum Allowance Rates 2009-10
Guidance for fostering providers.
Disclosure
Checks for Individuals who are Involved in the Care of a Fostered Child but who
are not Approved Foster Carers
Guidance for fostering providers (July 2007, Amended November 2007).
Foster carers play an extremely important role in supporting some of the most disadvantaged children and enabling their successful transition into independent, adult life.
Fostering is a challenging role and requires skills and dedication. We need to encourage more people to become foster carers and make sure that they have the support and skills required to meet the varied and complex needs of looked-after children.
This area of the website has information on fostering for people who work with children, young people, families and carers.
Further information on how to become a foster carer is available at the bottom of this page.
Click for more on the following:
-
Guidance
and research
Includes information on the national minimum allowance, dealing with allegations, recruitment, and messages from research for professionals, carers and families.
-
Commissioning
services for children living away from home
Covers commissioning, costs, auditing service provision, and multi-agency looked after partnerships.
-
Pensions
and tax exemptions for foster carers
- Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care
Documents
Foster Carers who also provide childcare (December
2008)
National
Minimum Allowance for Foster Carers and Fostering Payment Systems (July
2006)
Research
on Children's Services: Children's Homes and Fostering (August
2006)
Protecting
Children, Supporting Foster Carers: Dealing with an Allegation (April
2006)
This booklet, aimed at foster carers, can help practioners explain to carers,
looked-after young people, their advocates and birth families, what
happens when an allegation of abuse or neglect is made.
Becoming a foster carer
Anyone can apply to be a foster carer, as long as they have the qualities needed to look after children who cannot live with their parents.
If you are interested in becoming a foster carer, the first thing you should do is contact your local fostering service (either the social services department of your local council or an independent fostering agency) and arrange a meeting. They will explain what fostering involves and will help you decide whether you are right for fostering.
If you would like information about registered independent fostering agencies please contact the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). Their public enquiry phone number is 0191 233 3556 and they are open Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 5.30pm. Alternatively, you can use the directory of care homes and care services on the CSCI website to get contact details for all fostering services.
Fosterline
For information, help and advice for current and prospective foster carers,
please contact Fosterline on freephone 0800 040 7675. The advice line is
open from 9.00am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday (except Bank Holidays). It is
open till 8.00pm on Wednesdays.
For further information please go to the Fosterline pages
on the Fostering Network website.
This page was last updated on 07 January 2009
