There are many thousands of children in Local Authority care throughout the country, they are different ages, ethnicities and have differing needs. For this reason fostering agencies need to recruit a wide variety of potential foster carers to meet the wide variety of needs presented by foster children. This means not only people with differing skills but also people willing to offer different types of foster placement.

Although fostering is a temporary arrangement but not all children need a long term placement, they may need an emergency placement for only a few days/ weeks, some children may have specific needs which require specialised foster placement; for example children with disabilities or children with severely challenging behaviour.

Types of fostering placements

Short term
Children are placed with a family for a period of time from several weeks or months whilst plans are made for their future, such as adoption or a return to their birth family.

Emergency
Children need somewhere safe to stay for a few days or weeks. Foster carers offering emergency placements often need to be available to receive a child at very short notice.

Long Term
Children live with a family until they reach adulthood and can live independently. This reflects the fact that not all children will return to their birth families and not all children are suitable candidates for adoption

Short break
Children with specific needs such as disabilities or challenging behaviour stay with a family for a short period of time whilst their birth family take a short break. This is often called ‘respite care’.

Remand fostering
Children who are remanded into the care of the Local Authority by the courts may be placed with specially trained foster carers.

Parent and baby
Parents and their babies are looked after together whilst the foster carer prepares them for the future.

At Fostering Connections we aim to match you with Agencies in your area who offer the types of fostering placement you are considering. Simply complete our online application form and we will search our database for the best matches available.