You can do it! - Fostering
What is Fostering?
Foster carers look after children or young people when their parents are unable to do so and no other suitable family member is available to care for the child. The length of time a child stays with a foster family can vary from days, to weeks or even years, with some children staying with a foster family on a permanent basis.
Types of fostering
Inverclyde Council is seeking to recruit people who can care for children who cannot live at home with their own families. We are looking for carers who can provide:
Respite care In this situation carers generally provide support to other carers. Children who are referred for this service are often already living away from their families in foster care or sometimes in residential care. They require respite for a number of reasons sometimes because their full time carers are going on holiday and sometimes because their behaviour is difficult to manage. As with shared care this type of care fits in particularly well with employment and can be a very satisfying experience as you see children grow and develop and achieve their potential.
Temporary care/ Interim care In this situation carers provide a home for children while plans are made for their future. These plans might involve a return home, in which case carers work closely with the child’s family often supporting parents to resume care of their children or it might involve supporting children to accept that they cannot safely return safely to the care of their families and helping them to move into new permanent living arrangements. Many of the children who require this type of care are over 5 years of age, many are in family groups and would like to stay together in foster care and all have experienced disruption and distress which sometimes makes them unhappy and causes them to behave in ways that are difficult to understand and manage. There is no requirement for temporary carers to be at home full time but this type of care does involve taking children to appointments, attending meetings and being available when the children need you. For these reasons it probably fits best with people who are working part time during school hours or not working at all outwith the home. Parenting experience or other experience of children, while not essential, is desirable. This is a challenging task with great rewards as you see children settle and begin to thrive in your care while plans are made for a more permanent solution.
Permanent careFor a child this means that the care planning process has concluded that the child will thrive best if they are cared for away from home on a permanent basis. In this situation carers provide a home for children who cannot safely return home. The children are usually over 8 years of age and often have brothers and sisters who they would like to live with. They also may have regular contact with members of their families which carers may be required to facilitate and certainly will be expected to support. Many of these children will have had difficult early experiences and may take a long time to settle and feel comfortable in a permanent foster placement. When they do the rewards are obvious as they become a part of your family with a positive relationship with their birth family.
Who Can Become a Foster Carer?
Foster carers are ordinary people who come from a variety of backgrounds. In order to become a foster carer you do not require to have academic qualifications, be in employment, own your own home or be married. We welcome enquiries from couples, including single sex couples, who are married, in civil partnerships or in a cohabiting relationship and from single people. We welcome people from different backgrounds , cultures and ethnic groups. The Council needs to recruit a wide range of foster carers who are caring, who are able to make relationships with young people and maintain a commitment to them through hard times, who are flexible and who can work with other professionals as part of a caring team.
How Do You Become a Foster Carer?
If you are interested in finding out more about fostering, then complete the 'online initial contact form', telephone the Family Placement Team on 01475 715 367 or email us at
Once we have received your enquiry we will send out an Information Pack which will give you much more information about fostering. If you want to find out more you return the Reply Form which is included in the pack and we will then arrange for a social worker to visit you at home to answer any questions you may have and to discuss your personal circumstances and how that would fit with fostering.
The next step is to attend Preparatory Groups. These are a set of groups usually held over two Saturdays to which we invite everyone who has expressed an interest in fostering during the preceding couple of months. At these sessions we give you full information about what fostering involves and what the expectations of yourselves and your family are in respect of caring for other people’s children. The aim of these sessions is to give you all the information you need to decide if fostering is right for you and also for us to make an initial judgment as to whether you are right for fostering.
After completing the Preparatory Groups a social worker from the family placement team will visit you to discuss whether you wish to proceed. If Social Work Services have any concerns these will be discussed openly with you and a decision made as to whether or you can proceed at that point. You will then you will be asked to submit an application form and following this a formal assessment will be undertaken which will include a Protection of Vulnerable Groups check (this is a check of police records), a full medical and other formal checks.
Fostering Schemes
In order to meet the needs of the children and young people for whom the Inverclyde has responsibility we have developed a Payment for Skills scheme.
The scheme has 4 levels.
Level 1
The majority of new foster carers will be placed on level 1 and will be paid a basic allowance to meet the needs of caring for a child. This placing recognises that although you may have been involved in caring for your own children or the children of your friends and relatives you will not have experience of looking after children who have been exposed to adversity in the way that children in foster care have. In this initial period you will receive a high level of support from your family placement social worker and will be offered and expected to attend training courses to extend your knowledge. Once you have satisfactorily attended training and shown that you are developing skills appropriate to the fostering task there is a formal process whereby you can progress to level 2 if you wish.
Level 2
Level 2 carers will have completed the process described above. They are paid the basic allowance and also a fee in recognition of the skills that they have acquired. To progress further they will continue to attend training and to expand their skills through reading, research and other methods such as attendance at support groups and other informal learning. They should be able to demonstrate that they have developed their practice as a result of this. It is expected that carers on this level will be undertaking some external training. This may be online.
It is possible to enter the fostering service at level 2 if you have relevant qualifications, skills and/or experience with children who are looked after away from home.
Level 3
It is expected that carers at this level will continue to attend training and to expand their skills through reading, research and other methods such as attendance at support groups and other informal learning and to demonstrate that they have developed their practice as a result of this. It is also expected that they will complete formal training e.g. BTEC training, SVQ 3 or equivalent. These foster carers are paid a higher fee.
Level 4
As a foster carer approved for this scheme, you will be asked to take a child or young person who presents complex and challenging behaviour. The child or young person placed will normally be aged ten years of age and upwards and while some may be able to return home, others will be expected to stay with you until they are ready to leave home. Carers approved for this scheme will have a qualification in childcare and experience of working with children separated from their birth families. You will receive a substantial fee for your skills and expertise.
Support to Foster Carers
Inverclyde Social Work Services is committed to ensuring all foster carers are fully supported. Each foster carer has a Family Placement Social Worker to supervise and support them in the task. Mandatory training and basic equipment will be provided. Carers will be paid a weekly allowance which is intended to cover the cost of caring for the child. This amount paid varies depending on the age of the child. In addition a weekly fee is paid to level 2,3 and 4 carers.
The current rates of allowances and fees are in a separate document on the fostering page.
Do You Require Further Information?
If you require further information on fostering or adoption, telephone the Family PlacementTeam at 01475 715 367 or write to the Family Placement Team at Hector McNeil House, 7-8 Clyde Square, Greenock PA15 1NB or email us at
Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland has a duty to inspect how the local authority responds to fostering in its area.
Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland can be contacted at:
Compass House,
11 Riverside Drive
Dundee
DD1 4NY
Tel: 0845 600 9527
Email: