Advice on age ranges please!

[NotAnotherHeffalump]

Hi! We are just starting out, and have our skills to foster course coming up in 8 wks time. Our SW was asking me today what age range of kids we would consider. My husband and I had initially thought very young kids, 0-5, as our current DC are 9, 3 and 2.

She has said that there aren't many kids under 4 as their care plan would usually be for adoption . I am open to any age really, and willing to consider how each child will impact our family on a case-by-case basis. My husband thinks younger will be better because the older they are the more likely they are to have been through multiple failed placements etc.

I know children are individuals and there will be challenges no matter what, but can anyone offer me any insights to what age ranges they prefer and why?

The SW is coming out for a chat next week and I just want to consider all the angles.

Thanks!

Our agency insists that children are 2 years younger than our birth children.
when we started process our youngest was 13.
We were advised to have our age range 0-18 as this meant as our children got older our age range would not need to be changed at panel.

Our sw advised us to only accept under 10 at first.
When they rang us with placement offers the duty sw who did not know us offered us various ages. It was up to us to refuse, which we did with a few as they would not fit well with our family.

Our trust (we are in NI) insist on 2 years younger than youngest BC if you are adopting, but don't seen to have any age restrictions if you're fostering.

I think fostering children older than your birth children is a safeguarding issue as well as disrupting birth order in your family which can cause lots of issues. I would also recommend waiting until your youngest starts school as pre school LAC can have a high level of family contact which you are expected to facilitate and there's also a lot of meetings and training to atrend. With regards 0-4 going for adoption, yes, but there is still the 26 week parenting assessments during which the children need fostering? Unless you're specifically looking for a long term child, in which case you would struggle to find in 0-4 age group.

Mmm....We had probably been focusing on long term. Just because we were concerned about everyone getting attached and then the foster kids leaving.

We had thought about adopting too, but there just seemed to be a bigger need in fostering.