HOW TO FOSTER Your Free Fostering Application Service
Our 2023 Agency Finding Network extends the length and breadth of the UK.
Contact us to find the Agency near you with the best foster carers support, pay and allowances.
Fostering.
Changing Children’s Lives.
How To Foster.
With our help, you’ll get fostering right first time. Together we’ll choose the right Fostering Agency for you.
Fostering.
Make sure you ‘Get fostering right first time’ by using our free UK Application Service. We help you to find the best Agencies to choose from. We are here to make it easier to apply to be a UK Foster Carer in 2023.
Foster Carers Pay.
Foster carers allowance and pay are not regulated by the Government so each Agency decides how much financial support they provide for their carers. Find out how to receive the best Financial Package in 2023.
Transfer Agency?
Not getting the Support you need? Start the discussion about how to improve your Support, number of Placements, Respite and Income. Use our free Agency Transfer Service to change your Agency with our help.
What is the need?
New carers
New carers are required for children and young people aged between 0 to 18, from a variety of different backgrounds and abilities. Across the UK there is an urgent need for over 8,000 more foster carers every year.
This shortage means that social services have fewer choices of foster carers, therefore children are often being moved around from home to home, have to be split up from their brothers and sisters, and have to live a long way from their family and friends.
Foster Carers Role
The child’s Local Authority is legally responsible for their safety, however if there are no in-house carers available, a request is made to the Authority’s preferred local Independent Agency.
Independent (Private) Fostering Agencies recruit, assess, approve, train, supervise, support and review Foster Parents who care for children looked after by Local Authorities.
Placements are usually Short Term and the child returns home or is placed with extended family. There is also Long Term Foster Care for children who need care for the foreseeable future.
Younger children may be Adopted, and Teenagers will start the process of living independently which is a significant time for young people. Fostering is found to be the best alternative for children and youngsters who cannot live at home.
About Fostering
You will be classed as self employed for tax purposes, and contracted to work with your approving Agency.
The Foster Parent’s Approval sets out the Type and Categories of care you can provide in your family home.
An Approval is reviewed annually to look at any needs carers might have, what quality of service is being provided and the support available from the Agency.
Independent (Private) Agency payments and allowances cover the all day to day needs of fostered children and includes a reasonable reward element or fee.
The income is usually sufficient enough for people to be self employed and to consider foster parenting full or part time.
Visit the Government website for lots of information about how to foster, the Government Guidelines about the Assessments and Approval Process.
Free Fostering Essentials Handbook
By contacting us you are entitled to the Simply Fostering Essentials Handbook, a wall to wall guide to fostering.
An A-Z comprehensive guide to a range of useful fostering terms. Essential reading for any newbie foster carer. Includes subjects as varied as:
- Parental Responsibility
- Managing Behaviour
- Human Rights
- Reviews
- Eat Disorders
Form Only Takes A Minute To Complete.
Foster Carers Blogs
Eligible to Foster?
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UK Wide Fostering Network
If you live in the UK… We’ve got you covered.
We cover the length and breadth of the UK with our unique Agency Network. Finding an Agency near you and supporting your move into foster caring.
