Becoming a foster carer

Foster carers welcome children into their home and they care for the child in a similar way to how they would care for their own children. Children who are in foster care live in the home 24/7 for the duration of the fostering arrangement.

Some children stay in the fostering home for a short period of time, maybe only 1 night; others stay for many years.

The youngest age that a child may join the home is from being newborn and foster care can last until the child is 18, or 21 (under ‘staying put’ arrangements), or 25 (if the child goes to university). That said, very few join a fostering home at age 17 and the children won’t be age 18 or older when they join the home.

Approved foster carers are matched to children according to the carer’s approval range; the approval range clarifies the age, gender, faith etc. of children that would be suited to the fostering home.

Basic requirements

The basic requirements to foster include:

• Applicants must be age 21 or older. Younger applicants must demonstrate sufficient knowledge and experience to foster. Older applicants must demonstrate that they’re likely to remain in good health for the proposed period of fostering – there’s no upper limit to age range.

• The home must have a spare bedroom. Some fostering providers (such as Sparks Fostering) will accept bedroom sharing by siblings; whereas other providers require each sibling to have their own bedroom.

Applying to foster

To check if you could foster, complete this free short quiz.

For an overview of the fostering process, see ‘The process and approval’.