Foster carers from all backgrounds are needed to meet the diverse needs of children in care. There are many foster carers that have health conditions and/or a disability and each will be assessed individually. Foster carers with a disability or health condition can make excellent foster carers and role models for vulnerable children, as they themselves may have overcome adversity and/or discrimination and understand the barriers looked after children may experience. The fostering service will provide details of the allowance you will receive to care for a child and any fee or reward payments available. Further advice and information on finances, including self-employment and tax, is available here.
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All prospective foster carers are required to have a medical as part of stage 1 of the assessment process. Fosterline encourages open communication with the fostering service about any concerns in this area as soon as practicable. The medical is often, but not always, carried out by the applicants GP. It is used to assess if there are any health issues, how these are managed and if they may have any impact on caring for a vulnerable child. The report is usually passed to the fostering service Medical Advisor for any comments in relation to this, which will help inform the assessment being carried out by the social worker.
The information from the medical may help inform the discussion about the proposed terms of approval, such as the age range of the children fostered, the type of fostering, or the number of children to be cared for. For example, caring for older children who do not need picking up/carrying that might exacerbate a back condition. Occasionally it may suggest additional information from a consultant who is involved with the consent of the applicant for further clarity. The process of assessment can feel intrusive but strict privacy and data protection rules will apply. Applicants can ask fostering services to confirm how any information is recorded shared and stored if there are any concerns about this.
On some occasions, the fostering service may conclude that the information from the medical makes an applicant unsuitable to foster with their fostering service. If there is any information arising from stage 1 checks that the fostering service decide makes the applicant unsuitable to foster, the fostering service must notify them in writing giving reasons for that decision within 10 days of receiving all the stage 1 information. If they do not notify the applicant within 10 days of receiving all stage 1 information, stage 2 must commence. However, the fostering service may choose to submit a brief or summary report to the fostering panel with the applicants’ observations and comments, that may not need to cover all the areas of the assessment.
If the applicant feels they have been treated unfairly by the fostering service and the case is not presented to panel (as they are notified within 10 days of all stage 1 information) they may choose to make a complaint using the complaints procedure of the fostering service.
If the case is presented to panel they will be invited to attend and panel will make a recommendation that will be passed to the Agency Decision Maker along with the report and the panel minutes. The applicant will receive a letter from the Agency Decision Maker with the proposed decision and have 28 days from the date of the letter to request a review if they disagree.
In both examples discussed above the applicant(s) may wish to consider their options as they may also be able to apply to another fostering service to explore their suitability and can contact Fosterline for further advice.
