Fostering in Surrey v Hampshire LA

[hopebeyond]

We live on the border between Surrey and Hampshire, just on the Surrey side. We are considering applying to become foster carers and I would be interested to hear experiences of fostering with either of these Local Authorities. Looking online I see Ofsted recently rated Surrey Children's Services as inadequate and Hampshire as good but I'm not sure what I should read into this? We have yet to contact either, what should we be asking them in order to help us make the decision between the two?

I must live close to you, we are with Surrey. I am happy to answer any questions you have, just message me.

I'm with Hampshire so happy to answer questions from the other side

Hi there
I'm on the Hampshire/Surrey border on the Hampshire side. We've been thinking about fostering for a while, my children are 13, 11 and 5 and I would like to only foster ages 5 and under. Would this be possible?; I guess I mean is this a viable option in Hampshire? I've seen on other posts that some LA's have only accepted foster parents to do sibling groups or older children. We have a spare room, although it's a small room; my husband used it as an office previously.
Any advice would be grateful received...,
I'm a full time SATM too....
Thanks!

leaf, I think that you can specify a preference, and you can always say no to a placement that you feel would be too old. However, when you know there is a child of 6 who needs a home desperately, and they say it will only be for a couple of weeks......And before you know it, the child is there and still there 18 months down the line...!

I know SUrrey is recruiting big time at the moment, and I know of carers who live on the borders like us but work for Hampshire.

One thing I would say is that both counties are very big - one of the ladies I know who lives near ALdershot was offered kiddies from near Beaulieu. Other kids were from Southhampton.

Ditto kids from Surrey could come from Dorking or Redhill, not necessarily near the hampshire border. Why this matters - well, if you have very young children, contact will happen more frequently and you may be obliged to transport them one way (especially as the budgets get tighter every year.)

If you have any other questions about SUrrey, please do sendd me a message.