would love to foster

[smilingthroughgrittedteeth]

I have wanted to become a foster carer for a while now but have several issues that I fear might go against me and am hoping you lovely people will be able to guide me in the right direction.

1/ My DP and I live in a 2 bedroom house, the second bedroom is the room my stepchildren use when they come to stay, which is 1 weekend a month and some school holidays (they live the other end of the country) it is a big room and can easily fit another bed but I have read that foster children need their own room is there any way of making this work?

2/ We both work and can't afford to give up, my DP works nights and I work 4 days a week as a nanny, my youngest charge starts school in september so I would have most of the day free and my bosses would be happy for me to bring younger children with me anyway, is this something that could work?

So is there any chance or should I just forget it for the time being?

It's worth looking into but I suspect you'll have difficulties with both points, particularly at the moment when most Local Authorities and Independent agencies have plenty of foster carers.

Having no spare room would mean you'd be limited to children under 2 - the easiest to place and therefore those which the authorities have least need for carers for. There's no way a foster child can share with your own children - you'd be leaving yourself wide open to allegations and also possible trouble for your own children (FC come with many many issues).

At the moment my LA is insistent that at least one carer doesn't work - at all (Not that looking after the children isn't work). There's so much more to fostering than simply babysitting someone else's child - particularly at the beginning and end of a placement you can have whole weeks where you've got appointments all over the place, not to mention daily contact if the child's under school age (that includes weekends).

Sorry if this isn't what you were hoping to hear :( It's still worth talking to your LA if you've got your heart set on it - just expect to be asked to make changes.

Hiya,

I think the bedroom issue could be worked around. For example if you wanted to provide respite or emergency foster care and the bedroom were empty the majority of the time then you could use the. But it would rule out long-term placements as the foster child would need their own room (unless they are under 2 and could stay in your room). And if the room is big then you could possibly have a pair of siblings in there for respite or emergency which would be useful.

The work issue is a lot more problematic as foster children really can be very time consuming. They may not be attending education, there will certainly be loads of meetings and training for you to attend and the child may have a lot of appointments (medical, therapy, contact sessions etc).

I can't see LA or IFA being too happy about you taking a child to work with you when you're looking after another child as they would want your attention to be focussed on the foster child - they would be paying you quite a bit of money to do it and would expect a lot in return.

A lot of people do give up work to foster as you can have a good income from it. But there is no certainty about how often you will have placements and for how long, so it isn't a stable income which is why we don't encourage people to do it as a "job".

Hi thanks for your replies, I would be happy to do respite or emergency care and we work out access weekends for the step-children a year in advance, it is rare that they come any other time so I know exactly when the room will be empty.

Work wise with some juggling we can make sure one of us is always around, from september I will be free 9am - 2.30pm and since my DP works nights he can take over from me until I get home at 7pm, I only work 4 days a week and have most school holidays off.

This is something I really want to do and genuinly think I would be good at so am willing to make changes if needed

You really need to talk to someone from the Fostering Team in your LA. You can ring up and ask for an appt to see someone from the team and talk over the issues you are raising and take it from there really. You can also google "British Agencies for Fostering & Adoption" (BAAF) and Fostering Network (the national organisation for foster carers) where there is a wealth of information.