Types of fostering

There are many different types of fostering. Fostering is very flexible: you can foster one week a month, or full time, or something in between.

Short term fostering 

This usually involves looking after a child while social workers and professionals support families to see if their child can return home. This is usually for a few weeks or months at a time, though you might care for the same child for up to 2 years.

Long term fostering 

Long term fostering is when you look after a child until they are an adult. You become the primary long term carer for a child until they are ready to live independently. Long term foster carers offer a loving home and a sense of security and stability for children who will have experienced trauma prior to being fostered.

Respite or "sleepover" care: 

Looking after a child regularly for a weekend or during the school holidays can give them and their family a much needed break to recharge a bit. When you provide sleepover care, you're becoming part of the child's extended network. With some fostering experience, you might also help with emergency fostering. This is usually short notice and unplanned, for example if a single parent needs to go into hospital unexpectedly.

There are also specialist fostering schemes:

• Short breaks for children with disabilities, which you can do full-time or part-time
• Parent and child fostering is when you have a young parent and their child living in your home. Social workers may choose this type of joint placement if they are unsure whether the parent can care for their child effectively.
• Emergency bed scheme and PACE bed scheme are where you provide care for a child or young person out of hours, supporting them in an emergency or to prevent them remaining in police custody.

Supported lodgings to support a young person aged 16 to 18

Supported lodgings means sharing your home with a young person. You provide a safe home and help them learn to live on their own. This means you’ll play an important part in developing the young person's pathway plan, which outlines how they will transfer to independent living. You might help a young person develop life skills like budgeting, basic personal skills and social skills.

Most young people who need supported lodgings are aged 16 to 18, and they may have left foster care or experienced a family breakdown.