Fostering

Fostering or foster care is a way to provide a safe, secure and caring family environment for children who can’t live at home.

For lots of reasons, almost 40,000 children in England have been placed with foster carers. Many of these children will go back to their families after a while. In some cases, this may take days or weeks. Sometimes it can take much longer.

If a child can’t be returned to their families a decision may be made to find them a new permanent family, possibly through adoption.

In most cases, children in foster care will have regular contact with their families and their parents will continue to have responsibilities towards them.

What we look for

We’re looking for people who care about children and young people and want to make a real difference to their lives. We need carers who:

• can listen and communicate with children and young people
• promote health, learning and fun
• have the energy and motivation to stay committed to a child
• want to receive professional training and learn new skills
• can work with other professionals, including our friendly Fostering, Adoption and Care Leaver Team

Reasons to foster

There are lots of reasons why you should think about becoming a foster carer:

• there are children right here in Rutland who need care and support
• if we can’t find a foster carer in Rutland we may have to place a child in a different  county, far away from school, friends and family
• you can have a huge impact on a child’s life by giving them the care they need, when they need it
• fostering is incredibly rewarding and a great career if you want to be a professional carer
• we provide professional training, financial support and an allocated Supervising Social Worker to help you develop as a foster carer