Short-term fostering is the most common type of fostering. It involves a foster carer looking after a child or young person for as long as is needed until they can return home, move to live with extended family, move to live with their adoptive family, or are matched with a long-term foster carer. This can vary from a few days to several months, and in some cases may be longer than a year.
Some fostering services will approve emergency foster carers who will take children at very short notice, at any time of the day or night, and care for them for a maximum length of time (e.g., up to two or four weeks), before they return home, move onto a short-term foster carer or move to live with extended family.
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It is common for fostering services to approve foster carers for both short-term and emergency care. If you are applying to be a short-term foster carer, make sure you understand the proposed terms of approval, including your fostering service's expectations about welcoming a child during the night, if this is needed.
Many emergency fostering arrangements will be due to investigations into concerns about significant harm, where a child comes into care at very short notice. But some may be a result of situations where a child, who is already in care, urgently needs to move to new carers. A smaller proportion are likely to be planned situations.
Read our advice on how to prepare for a short-term or emergency placement below.
