What is Fostering?

Fostering is a formal arrangement for a child or young person to be looked after by an adult or family when they cannot be cared for by their birth parents.

Fostering in Scotland is aimed at providing children with a loving family environment while they are away from their birth parents or long term carers.

Often a child or young person may be with a foster carer for a short period lasting a few days or weeks, however some children can be part of a foster family for many months or even years.

More than 5,000 young people are living with foster parents in Scotland. Fostering arrangements are made by local authorities or an independent fostering agency working on behalf of a local council.

Fostering in the UK

The length of time a child is in foster care is based entirely on the needs of each individual child and their circumstances.

There are different types of fostering ranging from:

• Short term foster care lasting a few weeks or months
• Long term foster care where a child is with you for several years – sometimes until they reach 18 years
• Respite foster care where a child is with you for a few days or a weekend once a month or so while their parents or main carers have a break
• Emergency foster care where a child is with you for a couple of days while permanent or stable living arrangements are made for them

Every effort is made to place a child with foster carers who can best meet their needs in terms of the child’s age, whether they have any brothers or sisters who can be cared for by the same foster family, and other requirements. 

Many foster placements can last as little as an overnight stay with the child or young person returning to their birth parents afterwards. However some children can be with foster parents for many months until they move to a different family arrangement, such as adoption.

It is not uncommon for a child to be a part of the same foster family for many years or in some cases until they become an adult.

Fostering is a service which requires highly specialist skills and expertise.  Foster carers receive a regular allowance to meet the costs of raising a foster child and a professional fee to reflect their skills.

Call Allison Wardrope at Care Visions Fostering on 03333 230044 or click here for further information if you want to find out more about what is fostering. 

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"We found that Care Visions Fostering Service continued to provide a high standard of care and support to young people and foster carers. The manager and the staff team demonstrated a commitment to work with service users to continue to develop and improve the service".

Get in touch today on t: 01786 447 368 or e: fostering@carevisions.co.uk