LA vs Independents any experiences?

[Sunsetdays]

For those of you who are fostering currently or have fostered in the past what are your experiences of your local authority and independent fostering agencies?

[JacobMalloy02]

Hello, This has been well debated on this forum. The general advice is go to both and have several come out and visit to for you to choose. Unfortunately, there are good and bad experiences of both LA's and IFA's. Go to their latest Ofsted report as this often is a starting point to get a sense of the organisation, it's culture and how they work with and support foster carers. Good luck

[f0stercarer]

An important factor is your geographical location compared to the local authority boundary. You can only register with one Local Authority and therefore if you are close to the boundary you are limiting the area (and thus population) that is close to you.

Therefore your placement(s) are much more likely to be further away which is relevant in terms of school runs, contact with parents etc.If you are close to a boundary then going with an independent agency can be advantageous as they can dealwith placements from many local authorities giving you a larger catchment area which is closer to you.

May or may not be relevant to your location.