Would we even be accepted?

[disguiseme]

Hi,

I'm looking for some information and advice and have been told that you lovely people will be a good place to start.

My partner and I have been thinking about fostering for a while now but there have been a few things holding us back. I would appreciate it if you have any experiences / thoughts on the below if you could share them with us

To start with we are both in our mid 20's, I'm 24 and my parter is 26. We have no children of our own and have been together 7 years. We are engaged but not married and have no plans to do so in the near future (due to the sheer cost of it!).

I'm worried that we would be thought too young to foster? And the fact that we are not parents already would be held against us as we dont have any 'experience'? Would this be the case??

We also live in a private rented flat, would this be held against us? We do have a spare bedroom.

I have plenty of experience with children and have been involved in a lot of voluntary work for years with different subsets of young people including yp in care.

Whilst I am not worried about our capabilities as foster parents but more how the panel / LA / PA would view us not having children.

Also, my aunt has social work involved with 3 of her children (and one of them is now serving time in a young offernders) -- we dont have much to do with them and infact until a few years ago hadnt seen them in years. However her youngest is 4 and I have been involved with his life for the last 2 years - taking him out, looking after him for a few weeks etc - he stole my heart because he was so young and deserved a different life than his brothers had and I suppose I got involved to try and be that stable influence on his life. Whilst I dont regret that for a minute I am now concerned that the family background will also prevent us from being deemed 'suitable'

I have a million and one other questions but right now these are the 3 things that are holding us back from even making an enquiry, so your thoughts or experiences would be most welcome.

Hi you are young to be considering fostering as its usually something couples consider after they have had their own children. But being young should not be a problem, more that it is unusual iyswim.

Having a spare room is good as is all your experience. People do foster who have not had birth children so that should not hold you back.They will give you training and as you say you have worked with kids.

Being unmarried and renting is no problem.You do need to be in a stable relationship, usually 2plus years so again not a problem.

The approving authority would look at your family background but from what you have said it does not look like a problem to me, more like a very positive contribution on your part which would be in your favour.

I would suggest approching your local authority to see how they view things, and perhaps a few other agiencies around where you live.

You sound lovely to me, very caring and asking questions is good.

Good Luck. x