Becoming a Safehouses North Foster Carer

The Process...

Setting things going to become a foster carer is easy - if you wish to know more about becoming a Safehouses foster carer you can either use the ‘Contact Us’ link or telephone us directly for an informal chat. We will then arrange to come and visit you in your home to give you the opportunity to ask questions about fostering with Safehouses and to enable us to find out more about you and your family.

If you then feel you still want to go forward to become a carer and we are also happy with the initial information you have given us, you will be asked to fill in an application form.  Part of the application will be a request for you to have a medical to ensure you do not have major health problems and consent forms agreeing to background checks.   Police checks will be necessary for everyone aged sixteen and over in your household.   Should you have any medical problems, or a criminal record for a minor offence, such as motoring, do not let this stop you applying to become a carer; you should speak to a member of Safehouses staff who will be able to advise you on whether it is possible for you to proceed.

If it is agreed that you go forward for assessment, a social worker will make contact with you.   This person will meet with you and your family for a number of sessions in order to complete a document known as a ‘Form F’.  The Form F report summarises information about you and your family’s personal backgrounds and the strengths you have, areas where you will require support and the number, age range and gender of children you will be suitable to foster.

You will be fully involved in completing this report and will be asked to sign it on completion.   You will, therefore, have the opportunity to alter or disagree with anything that has been written.

As part of the assessment process you will be invited to attend a three day ‘Skills to Foster’ course where you can learn more about what the fostering task involves.   This course will provide you with an opportunity to meet other people who are also interested in becoming foster carers and to talk to existing Safehouses carers and some of the staff from the agency who will be running the course.

During the social workers’ visits, they will talk about the skills and qualities foster carers need and they will also discuss the particular needs of children who are fostered.

You are required to show evidence of the skills you have, known as ‘competencies’.   The social worker will help you identify this information and experience in order to present it in an appropriate way.

As part of the assessment the social worker will need to visit at least two personal referees (who are not relatives) and meet with any birth children who are not living with you along with any ex-partners with whom you have had a significant relationship, e.g. fathers of birth children.

Once the Form F report has been completed and references have been collected, the information will be presented to a Fostering Panel who will decide whether to approve you as a carer.   You will be invited to attend this Panel. 

If you are approved, we will send you a letter and contract confirming your approval category, i.e. the number and ages of children you can foster.

Your approval will be reviewed annually, or whenever there is a significant change in your personal circumstances.

The Form F report is then used to share information with Local Authority Social Services Departments wanting to place children with Safehouses, so that they can read about you as a family and decide whether you are a suitable match for the children they want to place.