Requirements of a foster carer
Provide support
You will need to do all you can to support children and young people to be:
- healthy
- stay safe
- enjoy life
- achieve
- make a positive contribution
- achieve economic wellbeing
These are universal ambitions for every child and young person, whatever their background or circumstances.
Providing support with SHEEP
A helpful acronym to remember this is that every child shall be:
- Safe
- Healthy
- Enjoy and achieve
- Economic
- Positive contribution
Attend meetings and manage information
As well as the day-to-day care of children you will attend meetings with social workers and other professionals. These meetings will be about the children in your care. You'll need to produce records, manage information that is confidential and sensitive, and help make plans for the children's future.
Manage behaviour
When a child must leave their family, or the people they are used to, it's traumatic whatever their age. Subsequently they may display difficult or challenging behaviour. This is a way of coping with life events. As a foster carer, you need to be able to recognise the possible causes of such behaviour. We will support you to develop strategies to help the child manage their feelings and experiences.
Promote contact with families
Contact with their own families is very important to children and young people in foster care. As a foster carer, you will need to help maintain this if it is felt to be appropriate. Contact can be either face to face or via telephone calls, emails or letters. You will receive training to help you manage this.
Manage relationships
You must be able to communicate effectively with those who are concerned with the children including:
- the children and young people in your care
- social workers
- the children's birth families
- others concerned with their wellbeing
Commit time and energy
You will need to have time and energy to invest in a child or young person.
Develop skills
All new foster carers receive training before being approved. During your time as a foster carer, you can develop your skills via:
- training sessions
- conferences
- seeking advice from another foster carer, social worker or other professional
- by reading or undertaking e-learning.
Work in a team
A team approach is necessary to help children cope with separation, loss, abuse and neglect. It is necessary to help them settle in to long-term foster care or move on to adoption. Foster carers link to a large network of people. This includes:
- social workers
- children's families
- schools
- health care workers
- counsellors
- designated teachers
- the fostering service
- other foster carers
Training
Initial skills to foster training are covered in a 3-day preparation course. All prospective carers must complete it before being approved as foster carers. Social workers provide the training course, with input from foster carers and former looked after children. The course is offered at intervals during the year. It is held over a fortnight, usually a Tuesday, Saturday and the following Wednesday during the daytime.
Foster Carer Training Programme
We provide an annual training programme, which consists of:
- post approval training: Pathways Through Fostering
- continuing development training
All newly-approved foster carers are supported to complete the required CWDC (Children's Workforce Development Council) portfolio within their first year of approval.
Training is an opportunity to learn new skills and meet up with other foster carers to share and learn from their experiences.