Children moving on from fostering placements

Placements may end because the child returns to family or friends who have been assessed to be suitable to care for the child (this is the best outcome we can hope for because it’s in the best interests of the child).

Some children in care (invariably those who are very young) may leave foster care because they have been adopted.

Alternatively, children may be moved to fostering homes that the children’s social worker considers to be more suitable; in this situation we would hope that the move is ‘planned’ in that the child has enough opportunities to meet with the new foster carer/s before the move to enable the child to feel comfortable (or even happy) about the move.

Sadly, children sometimes move on because the child doesn’t settle well into the fostering home. The social worker may consider the match to the fostering home to be unsuitable, or the foster carer may give one month’s notice to end the fostering arrangement. Sparks Fostering would expect that foster carers would notify their social worker straight away if there are any difficulties in caring for the child, and that the foster carer would work with their social worker, the child’s social worker and the team around the child to address any issues. Stability is key to help any child succeed, so we should try to avoid the child moving on whenever this is possible.