Fostering

Fostering is about you being cared for by another family in their home. Your carer could be someone you know, such as a member of your family, or you might be cared for in a foster home by someone you have never met before. In this case the social worker will try to find a family from the same background and religion as you and your family so that it is easier for you to settle in. You may stay a matter of days or weeks or it may be longer.

You will be able to say what you think about the arrangements and decisions that are made for you by talking to your social worker and taking part in your reviews.

Living away from home

There can be lots of reasons why children cannot live with their parents. Sometimes parents are not well or they may have problems and need help from a social worker.

Children may have to live away from home for a while until the problem has been sorted out. Sometimes children have to live away from their families because people are worried that they are not safe and may be hurt. If this happens the social worker has to work out what can be done before they can return to their family.

What happens if you can’t go back to your family?

If a return to your family is not possible a decision may be made to find you a permanent new family; this may be a long term foster family or, in some cases, an adoptive family.

In the vast majority of cases children in foster care will have regular contact with their families and their parents will continue to have responsibilities towards them throughout the time they are in foster care.

Foster Carers

Foster carers are people who care for looked after children. Their job is to look after children and keep them safe. They will make sure you have good things to eat and buy you new clothes when you need them. Your foster carer will keep in contact with your school, help you with homework and help you to keep up with your interests and hobbies.

Many foster carers live in Enfield so you should not be too far away from family and friends. Sometimes this may not be possible and childrern have to live outside of Enfield. If this is the case your social worker will make sure you can still see your family.

All sorts of people can be foster carers. They can be single or a couple; some have children of their own and some do not. All foster carers have to undertake a training course and are checked to make sure that they are healthy and that they have never hurt a child or been in trouble with the police, before they can become foster carers.

Placement Agreement Meeting
When you live with a family there are quite a few meetings to make sure that you are happy and safe. Your mum or dad will be invited to these meetings, together with your foster carer and social worker. You will also be invited to the meetings and it is important for you to say what you want.

The first meeting is the Placement Agreement Meeting which will talk about your daily routine, such as what time you go to bed, how much pocket money you will receive and when and how you see your parents.

Your review
Each child or young person looked after by Enfield Council will have review meetings. The first one will be within one month, then three months and after that every six months. The person in charge of this meeting is called a Reviewing Officer.

These meetings are held to make sure that the right plans are made for your future. You will be the most important person at this meeting so it is important for you to say what you think and how you feel.

Your social worker will talk to you regularly about the plans for your future. You could have a friend or independent person to support you.

Complaints
All children can make an official complaint if they think they are being treated badly or unfairly.

If you are still not happy you can ring The Children's Rights Service on 0800 027 3348. This is a freephone line. The children's rights workers will help you to get your problems and concerns resolved quickly and will help you to get what you need from services.

Becoming a Foster Carer

All Foster Carers have had police checks, medicals and further checks with the NSPCC and Probation. They are all approved under the Family Placement Regulations.

Some of the things that Foster Carers are expected to do:
The foster carer is expected to
• help any fostered child keep in contact with their friends and family.
• make day to day decisions about the child's routine care.
• share information with Social Services and cannot keep secrets or agree to keep relevant information you share with them to themselves.
• involve you as much as possible in the child's life. Decisions about how involved you are will be agreed between yourselves and the social worker.

Applying to become a Foster Carer

This document was last updated on 2005-12-21 12:11:26 published by the ECSL team. Document Reference:LBE_118825