Emergency fostering placements provide a safe place for a child to stay in an emergency, you have small warning and usually these placements last for 1-2 nights, perhaps a little longer, usually until a plan can be made for the child’s future. Emergency referrals are typically out of normal working hours and tend to be needed in the evening, through the night and at weekends. Emergency fostering is ideal for people who are available at short notice, and who thrive with challenging situations. You can discover how to become a foster parent here or why not take the first steps and speak to us.

Short term fostering tends to be the most popular type of referrals we receive on a day – day basis. This can be anything from 1 night to 2 years, but even though your time with the child might be temporary, the impact you have can last forever. While the young person is in your care you’ll be working towards a longer term plan for their future. That might be returning home or perhaps long term foster care. In a lot of cases we do see short term placements turn into long term placements for the children. The final decision will be made by the court and is decided based on what is in the best interest of the child.

Long-term foster care involves supporting children who, for whatever reason, can’t return home to live with their birth family. These reasons include abuse and neglect, or the long-term illness or disability of a birth parent. This type of placement is for at least 2 years and usually ends at the age of independence 18, although some young people continue on a ‘staying put’ arrangement, which helps ease their transition into reaching adulthood.

Parent and child fostering is a specialist type of fostering which involves supporting either a vulnerable pregnant mum or a parent and their young child. This is usually the mother, but occasionally it’s the father instead and sometimes we receive referrals for both.

In safe Base fostering you have to have fostered for 12 months before we will consider putting you on the specialist training. You have to have good written and verbal communication skills, be confident and provide a placement for 12- 20 weeks depending on the length of the assessment and the LA’s wishes. The focus is to help prepare the parents to meet the needs of the child such as developing awareness, instilling routines, safe sleep, the confidence to feed and change baby regularly as well as nurture and play with the child.

Parent and child pay is a different payment structure to the other types of fostering placements we offer. You will receive a generous nightly allowance and the parent will also receive their own benefits to solely care for the baby. Another major role you play is helping the parents access appropriate benefits and learn to budget and manage their money appropriately.

Sleep over care provides a child with consistent care with a familiar person that is sometimes necessary for the stability of the home placement for both the child and the carer.  In Safe Base we have dedicated sleep over care carers who support the substantive carers and who we generally try to ensure continuity for the children with someone they feel safe with and have built a positive relationship. Sleep over carers have the flexibility to help and care for young people without committing to their full time care. Sleep over carers are valued members of Safe Base Fostering, who support carers by providing care on weekends and up to two weeks in the school holidays.   They are fully approved foster carers but do not care for children on a full-time basis.

When an asylum-seeking young person arrives in the UK, the local authority is responsible for their safety and will find them a suitable foster family. Most of these unaccompanied children are aged over 14, and most (88%) are boys. They enter care with local authorities who look to place them with short-term foster parents while the child’s application for asylum is considered and long-term care plans are put in place. These placements offer particular challenges but are crucial in supporting a vulnerable child in need.

As a foster carer, your role is to provide a safe, loving and stable home and help steer the child through the challenges of living in a new country and starting the next stage of their life – all the while encouraging them to maintain contact with their own culture and roots.

Fostering teenagers sadly has a huge stigma, but it can be easier and a lot more rewarding than you initially may think. Sadly, the number of teenagers in foster care across the UK is rising, and so we’re urging more people to come forward and give them the stability they deserve during these hugely critical years.

Yes you have to deal with hormones as well as young people who now really understand what has happened to them and the years of abuse, neglect and childhood experiences can have made them angry and emotional, but these are the children who really need your help. In a lot of ways they are easier to support as many teenagers are in full time education and have a higher level of independence than younger children. Meaning they need less supervision, so your role changes and evolves in the teenage years it is about offering emotional support and helping them learn the skills needed to become independent adults who can function well in society. Fostering teenagers can be one of the most rewarding types of fostering there is.