Hello, here's roughly what happened with me...
Went to the information evening, left my contact info on the night.
Had a call from a Social Worker within a week - she asked a few questions about me and my family and why I wanted to foster.
Had an initial home visit from a SW - asked what my understanding of fostering/children in care/etc, was plus more general questions about me and my family and a look around my home.
Had a call to say the initial visit was successful and I would be assigned an assessing SW.
Was sent a massive form to fill - chronology, all previous addresses, all previous jobs, etc. etc. etc.
Assessing SW came round 12 times over the next 4 months. Two hours (or more) for each appointment plus homework. Each session looked at different things...upbringing, work experience, understanding of issues that might affect looked after children, every aspect of my life talked about...relationships, money, diet, attitude to drinks/drugs/sex/etc. etc. etc.
Early on in assessment I attended 3 days Skills to Foster training (observed as part of the assessment process as well as training for you).
Medical assessment done early on during the assessment.
DBS check done early on too.
Panel - there were ten people on my panel and they gave me an absolute grilling. They tell you immediately after if they're going to recommend whether you're approved or not but then there's a week's wait for a senior person to approve the approval panel's decision.
And I think that was it...
I went to an information in the June and was approved the following March. Could've been quicker, but I had to wait until after the summer holidays to be assigned an assessing SW and then my panel date was later than it could've been because my SW was on holiday so we missed a month and I wanted to wait for her to be back rather than go to panel without her.
Gruelling...but I enjoyed it... Good luck! 