We are looking for people to foster who may come from the widest variety of backgrounds, experience and circumstances. We need people who are able to offer a genuine commitment to children and young people who require shorter or more planned, permanent periods of care.
We particularly need people who can make commitments to school age children and teens who require longer term / permanent support. We also need carers who can support teenagers on a time limited basis, often in an emergency or at short notice. Increasingly, we are needing carers who can make a 'full time', skilled commitment to children and young people with complex needs and demands.
We also need foster carers who can meet the racial and cultural needs of those children of ethnicity looked after by the local authority. We particularly need people and families of Black and Asian heritage to help meet the needs of Black and Asian children.
We provide a wide range of fostering services and types, from time limited respite or short breaks to planned permanent placements - a range of fostering which can fit with most people's circumstances and interest. We have established fee paid fostering schemes, offering opportunities for self employment 'career' fostering and are introducing a comprehensive 'Payment for Skills' fee model across most fostering types.
We regularly review our fostering services and recruit new carers to match our priorities for looked after children.
We welcome enquiries from people regardless of religion, race, class, gender, sexuality. Our foster carers reflect a wide range of circumstances and life experience – for example, you may be married, single, in a relationship but not married, divorced, widowed, employed, unemployed etc.
There are certain expectations and requirements regarding applicants suitability – for example; health, criminal convictions, age. Guidance on these expectations are provided on the Fostering Policy page . If you have any questions about your circumstances which you feel may affect your suitability to foster, please contact us for advice on: (0113) 247 4747.
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