Fostering children with disabilities. Advice wanted

[Tizzles76]

Hi, this is my first post here. My partner and I are carers for his severely disabled daughter. We have a fully wheelchair accessible bungalow and we would love to offer foster care to a similarly disabled child. I’d love advice or insights from other foster parents of disabled children.

There are several areas you could explore , but would suggest you contact your local authority and if some of these are suitable. It can be tiring and difficult as you do have disabled child at time you may feel you may need a little time out with your daughters now and the. Could enquire about these fostering areas. Rest bite for disabled children. Short breaks, Staying PUT enable's young adults with special needs a home post age post 16 too 25. whilst attending education. or may be become a Shared life's carer see www.makeyourself.org.uk ., wish you all the best

You could be perfect foster carers for children with additional needs. You are experienced parents and know the day to day joys and challenges of caring for children with disabilities too.

There are agencies which specialise in placements for children with additional needs or you could approach your local authority. I would recommend you do some reading and set up some initial meetings if you and your partner are serious about applying.

Having a daughter with additional needs does not need to be a barrier but you will need to think carefully about how you are going to meet the needs of both children including tons of meetings and appointments for your foster child. You would be entitled to some day support and respite for your foster child.

You could certainly look into respite care. This is a great way to help other children with additional needs without the pressure of parenting a second child full time.

The only other thing to think about is that ‘additional needs’ is a huge umbrella term and you will need to think carefully about what kind of needs would be compatible with your family. An example of this is if your daughter is very vulnerable physically or would be sensible to say you couldn’t place children with physically challenging behaviours.

Hi, check out UK Fostering website
ukfostering.org.uk/

Definitely look at providing respite care for local disabled children - the L.A. here provides training for this and could be a good place to start

Thanks everyone
My stepdaughter physically vulnerable so we would only be able to take physically disabled children to protect her safety. I think because there is two of us full time the care of two severely disabled children would be a manageable challenge. We’ve since spoken to several agencies and will soon be following up with our first assessments soon. Fingers crossed all proceeds well.