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Types of fostering

Parent and Child Fostering

There’s no greater reward than guiding a young parent towards a positive future with their child.

Sometimes young people become parents themselves, at a stage in their life where they’re not yet ready or capable of beginning parenthood unsupported. Parent and child fostering can help young parents take the first steps on their parenting journey with the support of an experienced foster carer.

This allows the foster carer to support the parent, ensure a high quality of care for the parent’s child and guide both towards managing on their own, reducing the likelihood of the parent and child being separated.

What does being a Parent and Child foster carer involve?

Parent and child arrangements often involve teaching a parent how to care for their child and meet their basic needs, as well as providing a foundation of stability, safety and boundaries for the child. The parents are not always young mothers, they can include fathers too – but by guiding their parenting skills and providing invaluable support at a vulnerable time, you can give new families the best possible opportunity to move towards a positive future.

Parent and Child Fostering:

  • Helps young parents develop confidence and independence in looking after their child.
  • Provides a safe and stable environment for the earliest period of a baby’s life, ensuring the good health and happiness of the child.
  • Helps keep young children within their own families wherever possible, which is beneficial for long-term positive outcomes.

Patsy's story

Meet Patsy, one of Team Fostering’s most experienced foster carers. Hear her talk about what Parent and Child fostering means in reality, what she loves about it and why she wouldn’t change it for the world.

FAQs

You’ll probably have lots of questions about the ins and outs of Parent and Child Fostering so we’ve tried to answer some of the most common ones below.

  • 24 hour support from an experienced Social Worker, all year round, via our dedicated phone number.
  • A named, allocated Supervising Social Worker who will visit regularly and provide regular supervision
  • A Peer Mentoring Scheme
  • Monthly Carer Support Groups and additional informal carer social events
  • A Psychological Support Service offering therapeutic support to Foster Carers
  • A specific parent and child training pathway
  • Additional in person and online training on a wide range of topics that are relevant to fostering
  • A locally based Placements team, who are responsible for matching parent and child arrangements with your family
  • A range of away days, activity sessions and outings including an annual Team Fostering holiday
  • Christmas and Halloween parties for children and young people, and their fostering families
  • Education Support Service
  • Fostering Family Support Service
  • Membership to a Life Assurance Scheme
  • Parent and Child retainer payments
  • A Loyalty Bonus, paid every 5 years
  • Car Mileage
  • A Christmas Gift allowance
  • For young people who have lived with their foster family for 6 months, access to additional funding for a range of projects or activities through our charitable trusts

As a parent and child foster carer your primary goal is to support the parent(s) ability to safely care for their baby or child. You will identify learning needs of the parent(s) and then implement strategies and offer support to meet these learning needs. Throughout this time you will support the parent to wherever possible develop a ‘good-enough’ level of parenting to enable them to move on with their child/ren.

Although you will not be offering a formal assessment of the parent and child you will be expected to share a detailed picture of the parent’s ability to care for their child/children through observations, interactions and recordings which are shared with the parent and child’s Social Worker.

You will give support with independence skills, for example, cooking, cleaning, budgeting, claiming benefits and life skills. The role of the foster carer is also to provide an opportunity to enhance the self-esteem and social skills of the parent.

The duration varies depending on the specific circumstances of the parent and child. Parents will stay in the foster home with their child or baby until the assessment is completed. Typically, this is around 12 weeks, but this can be extended or if there are safeguarding concerns it can conclude much quicker.

This very much depends on the outcome of the assessments that have been completed. If the outcome of the assessment is positive the foster carer would support the parent and child onto their next home. This could be moving in with family, independent living or supported living. If the assessment outcome is that the baby or child cannot remain living with its birth parent the foster carers would work with the Local Authority with regards to moving on plans whether that be moving to wider family members, longer term foster carers or an adoption placement.

Team Fostering has a dedicated training team who offer a wide range of training and learning opportunities for all our foster carers.

Every foster carer has an individual personal development plan which is formulated in partnership with your supervising social worker. It will identify any training you need to support you on your fostering journey as well as those of particular interest to you.

As a parent and child foster carer you have a specialist training pathway which includes specific preparation for parent and child fostering. This includes courses which cover a wide variety of areas such as how you can meet the needs of a baby or child developmentally, support a parent and child’s relationship, areas of safeguarding, matters impacting parents and children such as substance misuse and training around trauma informed practice and therapeutic care.

The full list of courses includes:

  • Parent & Child Fostering (generic training – 2 days)
  • Recording Skills
  • Parenting SkillD
  • Safeguarding
  • Emergency First Aid
  • Attachment
  • Post-Natal Depression
  • Attachment
  • Post-Natal Depression
  • Child Development
  • Secure Base
  • Drug & Alcohol Misuse
  • Mental Health Awareness
  • Domestic Abuse
  • De-escalation & Positive Handling
  • Sexual Health & Relationships
  • Understanding the Effects of Poor Parenting in Childhood
  • Living Independently & Budgeting Skills

Team Fostering offer a high level of support to all of our Foster Carers, all day, every day, and you will never be alone. You will have an allocated Supervising Social Worker and additionally access to the rest of our Social Work team, who are available 24 hours a day.

If you’d like to know more about Parent and Child Fostering with Team Fostering, leave us your details here, chat to one of our advisors on Live Chat or call us on 0800 292 2003. We’re happy to answer all your questions.

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