When Is The Right Time To Foster?
At TACT, we understand that choosing to become a foster carer is not a quick decision. It is a life choice that requires thought and planning in the early stages. You may have already asked yourself: ‘when is the right time to foster?’
The answer will always be is personal, but there are several factors to consider to help you decide.
1. Understanding the role of a foster carer
Foster carers provide a safe and nurturing environment for children who cannot live with their birth families. This could be due to a variety of reasons, such as neglect, abuse, or family instability. It is different from adoption in that foster carers do not have parental responsibility, and it is not a permanent arrangement (although some fostering arrangements are long term).
Many people considering fostering think that it is purely their responsibility to make a huge difference to a young person’s life. For this reason, they often put off or even rule themselves out of fostering altogether. This is actually not the case.
As a foster carer, you are a part of what is called the ‘team around a child’. Other members of this team include your own allocated social worker, the child’s social worker – and other professionals whose role is to support and advise you.
At TACT, we have both Education and Health departments, Engagement & Activity Practitioners and Children & Young People Wellbeing Practitioners. We also operate a 24/7 support service. Foster carer wellbeing is also a priority for our foster carers, and we offer a range of initiatives and memberships to support both mental and physical health.
So whilst you will be responsible for the day-to-day care of young people, you will have an entire team in your corner.
Read more about our Support & Training
2. Evaluating Current Life Circumstances
Everyone’s life circumstances and family compositions are different. If you have considered fostering but have dismissed it due to a belief that your circumstances are not conducive to foster care, it’s worth going down the myth busting route just to check!
“I have my own children”
If you have your own children (sometimes called ‘birth children’), you may have decided that you cannot foster, or that you need to wait until your children are older or have homes of their own.
Only you and your household can decide whether fostering is the right decision, but it’s important to remember that your birth children will not rule you out of fostering. In fact, your own children can be a positive influence in the fostering household.
Additionally, your children receive guidance and support across the entire fostering journey, such as:
- Being fully involved in the foster carer application and assessment process, including age-appropriate tools to check that they are onboard with fostering, and are aware that there is a support network around them.
- Forming a part of the child-to-carer matching process, meaning that your own children are fully considered and consulted when a foster child is being considered for your household.
- On-going support from a Supervising Social Worker. Here at TACT, we also have Engagement & Activity Practitioners who organise activities and events – some of which are called ‘Children Who Foster’.
“I thought it unlikely that I would ever foster because I wasn’t sure of the impact on my son. One night, I was reading a book to him about a child refugee. He thought it wonderful that a family took the child into their home and cared for him. A conversation about fostering ensued and I found that he was keen to give it a try.”
Kate – TACT Foster Carer since 2022
“I don’t own my current home”
Some people believe that they need to own their home to foster, often putting off the decision if they are currently renting.
Whilst children in care require their own bedroom within a fostering home, the only other stipulation is that the home is stable, safe and secure. If you rent, there would need to be no risk of eviction, along with no rent arrears.
Other than that, you wouldn’t need to wait until you own your own home to begin fostering.
“I need qualifications and experience”
Fostering is sometimes placed into the same bracket as ‘childcare’, where qualifications and experience are a prerequisite.
Whilst all foster carers are highly trained, that training is provided after you make an application to foster. You therefore do not need any previous training or experience to start your fostering journey.
The first training you will undertake is called Skills to Foster. All foster carers are required to take this training, whether you’re applying to foster via a local authority or an independent agency. At TACT, this training is delivered early in the application process, because we believe it also functions as a key decision-making step – to evaluate if fostering is the right decision for you and your household.
Whilst some experience of caring for children will always be useful, it is not essential.
Read more foster care questions and answers.
“Over the past few years, myself and my wife had spoken about fostering and it got to the point where if we didn’t do it soon, we would never have done it. Sometimes you have to do something, even if it’s out of your comfort zone”
Nathan – TACT Foster Carer since 2020
3. A Type Of Foster Care To Suit You
Many people don’t realise that there are many ways to make a difference to a child’s life, and dismiss or delay fostering because they believe that it will be incongruous to their household composition or lifestyle.
At TACT, we have many different types of foster care that you could undertake. They are:
Short Term – providing a stepping stone until more permanent care arrangements can be made.
Long Term – providing longer term stability and consistency for a young person
Fostering Teenagers – specifically providing care for teenagers
Fostering Siblings – providing additional stability by keeping siblings together
Parent & Child Foster Care – providing care and guidance for both a parent and their child in your home
Disability Foster Care – providing care to children with a physical or mental disability
Fostering Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children – providing care to those young people who have had to leave their home country
Emergency Fostering – providing immediate care with minimal notice
Remand Fostering – providing care for alleged young offenders
Step Down Fostering – providing care for those young people looking to move from residential care to a fostering environment
Short Break Fostering – providing alternative care for a young person over a very short time period
Foster carers can choose to undertake any number of different categories of foster care (subject to a final decision by a fostering panel). Some of our foster carers begin with Short Term Fostering, and then extend their criteria as their experience and confidence grows.
Additional training will be required for some categories of care, such as Parent & Child Fostering – but this will be provided for you.
Read more about our types of fostering.
Choosing the right time to foster
There’s never a perfect time to become a foster carer, but there’s always a right time if your heart and circumstances align. If you have the capacity to offer stability and love to a child in need, fostering can be one of the most rewarding journeys you’ll ever embark on.
If fostering has been on your mind, take time out to reflect, discuss it with other members of your household, and reach out to professionals to help you make this life-changing decision. You can also read some of our inspiring foster carer case studies.
When you’re ready, the difference you will make to young people’s lives – and your own – will be profound.
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