Who can be a foster carer?
Foster carers can come from all backgrounds and walks of life. You don’t need to have a certain income or live in a big house.
The most important thing is that you’re flexible not only with your time but also your willingness to look after a child in our care.
Foster carers can be:
- single, married, divorced or living together
- in a same sex relationship
- from any religious or ethnic background
- a homeowner or living in rented accommodation
- employed or on benefits
- already a parent
- living with a disability
Our requirements
To be a foster carer you must be over the age of 21 and have a spare room in your home.
You must have no convictions for offences against children or any other criminal history that may affect your ability to foster.
We’re looking for carers who:
- have patience, understanding and a good sense of humour
- enjoy spending time with children and young people
- are happy to receive support and guidance
- can be flexible but able to provide structure
- are able to commit time to a child or young person
- can handle potentially difficult behaviour
We're always recruiting more foster carers so that a child or young person has somewhere safe to live when they need it.
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