1st meeting with LA - what to expect?

[TulipsfromAmsterdam]

We have our first meeting coming up with someone from LA Foster team and have no idea what to expect from it. We haven't been on any courses yet, this will happen after meeting if all goes well so hoping someone can give me a clue. Do they usually need to look around the house or is this something which happens further down the line?
TIA

Hi Tulips - hope you aren't in Amsterdam cus I don't know what happens outside the UK. The initial meeting is for the soc wrk to do come and have a chat with you - it's nothing to worry about. Obviously this is the beginning and the sw "susses" you out to make sure that at this stage all seems well enough. YOu would be surprised at the number of people who have to be screened out on the initial visit, e.g. an 86 year old lady in a one bedromed flat, a lady who didn't want her husband (who lived with her) to know about the fostering idea! one who thought she didn't need a fostering course because she knew all about children................I could go on.

The sw should definitely ensure that you have a room available for the foster child (as in the fostering Regs it is stipulated that fostered children must have their own room. I would always ask to see the room on a first visit. This isn't always straight forward because sometimes people want to partition a big bedroom or try to cram a single bed into a tiny room. To be honest you can get the feel of the cleanliness of the house almost straight away and so don't need to look round. I usually followed people into the kitchen if they offered to make coffee so I could have a quick look without making it obvious! (I am now retired by the way)

Don't think that you home has to be sparkling clean and tidy - it just needs to be basically clean and "lived in" as in not too tidy! They will probably talk to you about your "offer" i.e. age of child/ren you are considering. They will tell you what their need is, which is usually for middle years aged children, siblings and children with disabilities. If you only want babies, they may not take you on if they already have enough carers for babies, or encourage you to think of older children. A lot depends on the ages of your children etc.

If all seems ok they will invite you to the next preparation/training group.

Good luck - don't forget foster carers are like gold dust to LAs so it's a 2 way street.

Hi Tulips,
Having just been approved I can remember our first visit well. We had a lovely sw come to our house along with a very experienced fc. The SW told us loads about the whole process of becoming a foster carer and answered any questions we had. It was really usefull being able to speak to a foster carer too who was able to tell us about the sort of children / young people we might one day have coming into our home. The SW asked us about the age group we were considering and what sort of caring we wanted to do ( task centred, respite etc) and how many children we were hoping to care for at one time. The SW did look around our house on the first visit to confirm the number of available bedrooms. Everything was very informal and the meeting lasted about 1 1/2 hours, ending with the SW giving us a list of dates for the skills to foster course we had to attend.
Hope it all go's well for you.
Good luck

Hi and thanks for the replies. I am in the UK and have since had the meeting. Seemed to go well and was very informal. The SW was really nice, did have a quick look around the house and left us with the forms to fill in if we wanted to proceed.

Now waiting to hear back regarding dates for the courses. Currently feeling a little nervous but excited at the same time.
Expect I will be back here regularly asking for your invaluable advice so thanks again.