What to expect - initial visit.

[PatchworkPerfect]

After making our initial enquiry we've just been told that a social worker will be coming out to our house for an initial visit in 2 wks time.

What can I expect from it? Is there anything I should do in preparation beyond the obvious (tidying!). What will they be looking for? Should the spare room look a particular way? At the moment it just has 2 single beds in it and a desk. Are the questions they ask very in depth at this stage or more general?

When I had my initial visit they were just interested in meeting us and finding out more about us and our motivation to foster, my fostering bedroom was a dumping ground and it remained so until after we had passed panel. Good luck, I have been fostering since June and have just applied to up my capacity to 1 + a baby, I love what I do but boy oh boy is it hard.

We passed panel 6 weeks ago so had our initial visit in April. The first visit was just to meet me and my family, ask us a few questions etc, not as formal as a normal interview. A week later we met our assessing social worker. She looked around the house, in every room (including our own). At the time, our spare bedroom was a shell, nothing in there at all. We finished decorating it the week of panel. Just be yourself and be completely open and honest. Have some questions ready for them too. Good luck

In our Local Authority, prospective foster careers come to a Children in Care Council meeting as part of their training, where our younger ones interview them. Some of our older ones are trained to visit their homes as part of the Home Study, too. The children's views go to the Fostering Panel, along with all the reports, references, etc.
The careers tell us that, although they are very nervous at first, being asked questions by children in care, that they also really enjoy it!

Carers. Autocorrect sucks.

Just thought I'd update.

A lovely social worker came out to the house a few days ago. They basically just chatted away about our routines and our support network and had a very quick look around the house. They were here for an hour and a half but it flew in and never felt intimidating at all.

We had initially said that we thought primary school aged kids would suit best, but she did mention that they have a real need for carers for babies, which I was surprised at.

It all felt really positive.

Good luck! An amazing thing to do if you can.