Once approved as a foster carer, a child will be matched to your care. It can be an exciting time for foster carers but also a daunting one, particularly if this is a first placement. Focusing upon the needs of the child(ren) is key, and good communication with your fostering service is vital to help you establish how you can meet the needs of the child.
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Preparing for a placement
It may help to have spare toiletries/nappies/PJs or other essentials suitable for children in your age range ready, particularly if you are approved as an emergency/short term foster carer who could be approached during the night.
It may be helpful to have a list of questions to hand to try to find out as much information about the child(ren) as possible, to help make an informed decision with the fostering service about how you are able to meet the needs of the child(ren).
This could include:
- What are the child’s current hobbies/interests and details of any clubs attended.
- Information on a child’s diet, favourite foods any allergies or dietary restrictions.
- Information about health needs and any diagnosis for both physical and mental health (e.g history of anxiety/depression or self-harming).
- Information about education and any additional needs, issues with attendance, etc. If this is not local to the foster carers home how will the child get to school? For example, will any transport be provided? Request the details in writing.
- Emotional and behavioral needs (e.g is the child withdrawn, verbally or physically abusive to others? Is the child at risk of absconding?)
- Information on any cultural or religious needs (e.g any specific dietary requirements, skincare or hair care, and does the child attend a place of worship, etc).
- Information on any known or suspected abuse including physical, sexual, emotional, neglect, domestic violence, sexual exploitation, exploitation by criminal gangs, or concerns about the influences of extremism that could lead to radicalization.
- Family situation and proposed contact arrangements and role of the foster carer (e.g. are the family in support of the placement? What is their proximity to the carers house? Are there any known risks or any actions to be taken?) Contact with extended family or significant others in the life of the child?
- Will the child bring any pet with them and/or if the foster carer household includes a pet, does this pose any concerns for matching?
This list is not exhaustive and in an emergency there may be limited information available. The matching should consider the needs of the child and the suitability of the foster carer(s) and the foster carer’s household, to meet those needs taking into account other children in placement and/or the foster carer's own children.
Foster carers should not feel pressurised, and need to understand how their fostering service will undertake matching and the placements of children.
The National Minimum Standards 2011 states:
“Each foster carer is aware of all the necessary information available to the fostering service about a child’s circumstances, including any significant recent events, to help the foster carer understand, predict and support the child’s needs and behaviours within their household. The fostering service follows up with the responsible authority if all such information has not been provided by the authority” (NMS 3.9).
In the case of a planned placement, a pre-placement planning meeting will take place with the social workers, foster carer and parents, to complete the Placement Plan. In an emergency placement the meeting should take place within 5 working days. The Placement Plan should include details of any delegated responsibility to the foster carer to make day to day decisions for the child. It also addresses the purpose of the placement, arrangements for education/training, the child’s personal/cultural history, their likes and dislikes, arrangements for health and any arrangements for consent, the expectations in regard to behaviour and behaviour management, contact arrangements, frequency of social work visits, etc. The Care plan should be completed before a first placement or within 10 working days of a child coming into care.
