What is fostering?
Foster carers look after children and young people who need somewhere to live for a while that is not with their own family.
Even if you are in foster care for a short time, it can be difficult but do not worry; your foster family will make you feel welcome and safe and treat you as if you are part of their family.
The fostering service tries to find foster carers who are the best people to look after you.
The service checks all foster carers to make sure they are suitable before deciding that they can look after children and young people. Some foster carers have only just started to foster and others have fostered children for many years.
Your foster carers get support and training from the fostering service. They have their own supervising social worker who visits them regularly to make sure they are OK. They have a review every year to make sure they can carry on fostering.
Your foster carers have a handbook given to them by the Fostering Service that helps them to know what they should do to be good carers.
When the fostering service was looking for a foster family for you, they thought about what you need such as:
- being able to stay at the same school
- being near to your family and friends
They try and find foster carers that will help you carry on doing things that are important to you such as:
- clubs
- groups you are a member of
- religious activities that you take part in