TYPES OF FOSTERING
We provide a variety of different types of foster care to ensure that we can meet the individual needs of children in care.
TYPES OF FOSTERING
Organic Fostering will aim to provide a comprehensive fostering service. We will aim to find the closest possible match when children need to be placed in foster care and identify any additional training, support or resource required. We aim for our foster carers have a range of skills, experience, and knowledge in relation to caring for children and young people. All our carers will be skilled in empathetic care and support children/young people with the trauma and loss they have experienced. We will work closely with referring agencies to ensure that individual needs are fully considered. We strongly believe that appropriate matching is key to achieving placement stability.
We provide a variety of different types of foster care to ensure that we can meet the needs of children in care. By offering a diverse range of fostering placements we will ensure that every child receives a stable and nurturing family environment where they will thrive.
If you’re considering becoming a foster parent, one of the crucial decisions you’ll need to make is selecting the type of foster care that will suit you the best. From short-term and long-term to more specialist types of foster care, there are lots of ways you can make a difference.
Get started by learning about all the different types of fostering.
Organic Fostering will provide following types of placements
Short-term fostering provides children in care with a safe and loving home when they’re no longer able to stay with their families.
This could be for a night or two and up to two years, and often required while care proceedings are ongoing.
Short-term fostering
Long-term fostering offers a more permanent home to a child, which often lasts until they turn 18 and are able to live an independent adult life.
This provides great stability to young people in care as they remain with a single, dedicated foster family who will care for them for many years.
Long-term fostering
In situations where it’s unsafe for a child to remain at home, an emergency foster care placement will provide them with somewhere safe to stay and a family to comfort them during these times of uncertainty and distress.
Emergency foster care
Provides vital support to foster families by giving them a short break from fostering, while the child in their care stays with their respite foster parent.
Generally, respite care is for 1 or 2 nights – sometimes a little longer – and tends to take place over the weekend and during the school holidays.
Respite foster care
Parent and child foster parents welcome vulnerable mothers – sometimes fathers too – into their homes and provide them with the practical skills they need to care for their children.
This type of foster care placement typically lasts around 12 weeks but can sometimes last longer depending on the needs of the parent and child.
Parent and child fostering
Supports young people who have often travelled great distances without their parents to flee war, political violence and exploitation, and seek asylum in the UK.
Fostering asylum-seeking children
There’s a significant number of teenagers in care who urgently need a foster family to support them through this crucial stage of their life.
Foster parents will need to be patient, nurturing, reliable, trustworthy and committed to guiding and supporting the young person through their adolescence.
Fostering teenagers
Placing siblings in foster care together can greatly benefit the well-being and outcomes of children. Sadly, there’s a national shortage of foster parents who have the space and energy to care for sibling groups, leaving many children separated from their siblings.
Fostering siblings
Emergency Placements
Organic Fostering will provide a 24 hour a day emergency service. An emergency placement ideally should not exceed a few days and it would be anticipated that the child or young person should be moved to a more suitable placement within a week in a planned way. Foster carers who care for children in an emergency will be trained to and specialise in providing intensive care and interventions.
Short Term Placements
Short term care is usually for a few days, weeks, or months whilst plans are made for the child’s permanence by the Local Authority. Foster carers will work in partnership with children/young people, their families, and social workers as appropriate to fulfil the objectives of the care plan. Children who need this type of care may have been considered at risk of harm and be subject to public care proceedings by the Local Authority. Placement with a foster carer is the preferred option for children who cannot remain in their birth family. A period of care may be required until the proceedings are concluded, and a decision is made in relation to them returning home or to family members.
Short-term placements usually require the foster carer to work closely with a range of services and professionals to ensure the needs of children are fully met. Foster carers may be involved in preparation for a child moving back to birth parents or adoption.
Respite Placements
Long Term Placements
Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) Placements
Organic Fostering will aim to advocate, access services and work within the child’s care plan in supporting and caring for unaccompanied children and young people from outside the UK. Foster carers will be supported to fully understand the young person’s cultural and religious needs to provide the most appropriate care.
Who Can Foster?
Age Requirements
Spare Room
Previous Experience
- Child-related experience - If you have cared for or currently care for your own children, you have an advantage as you are familiar with the responsibilities involved. Additionally, having experience working with children, such as in a teaching role or through volunteer work, is beneficial. However, lacking such experience should not discourage you from applying to our fostering agency, as it is not a mandatory criterion.
- Other professional experience - We are interested in your life experiences as they have likely equipped you with valuable skills like interpersonal understanding, problem-solving, decision-making, and resilience – all of which are essential for foster parenting. Your career path, or even if you haven't been employed previously, doesn't impact our consideration. What matters most to us when you seek to become a foster parent is the life knowledge you bring to the table.
Single Parent Fostering
- Support - Organic fostering will support you in your fostering journey through training, support groups, regular supervisions and etc. It is however important that you have the support of family and/or friends in your care for vulnerable children.
- Availability - it is important that you have the adequate time to meet the child's needs. This will include making time for meetings, training, school runs etc.
Work & Fostering
- The hours you are working
- Flexibility in working hours
- Age of a child you are caring for and their needs