A short term placement is for a period of time until it is determined by the placing local authority as to what the long term plan is for the child or young person. Read more about short term fostering by clicking here.

Long-term foster care is favoured if adoption is not the best option. This is when the placing local authority has agreed to permanency within the fostering home to provide that child or young person with security and stability until they have reached school leaving age or adulthood. Read more about long term fostering here.

Short Breaks allow a foster carer to look after a young person for a few days or up to a maximum of 28 days, usually on a regular recurring basis. This allows the birth parents or foster parents some time to rest and have a break. Find out more about respite care by following the link.

This specialist type of care places a parent and their child under the supervision and assessment of a foster home. This occurs when a parent struggles to adapt to the new baby and may have difficulties caring for them and as a consequence often the placements are directed via court proceedings. To undertake this task, further training and a parent and child assessment are required in order to be approved to offer parent and child placements.

Siblings who are taken into care should be kept together, if possible. This helps to keep the child connected with their family and improve stability in their lives. It is not always possible to place children together in the same home. Sibling placements allow families to remain together and not suffer the trauma of being separated from their brothers or sisters.

Young people who are deemed to be unaccompanied asylum seekers where their residency status within the UK is yet to be determined may need temporary care. A foster family can provide this.

This is where a young person has been assessed to benefit from being the only child at home. Where carers have been approved to have more than one child placed in their care, the placing local authority have agreed to pay a higher fee to block other children being placed alongside the child.

The reasons for a solo placement can vary from a child requiring a higher level of supervision and support or due to high levels of risk needing to be taken into consideration.

When will babies be taken into care?
Newborns and small babies will be taken into care under certain circumstances, some of the most common circumstances are:

• A child who has been born to a mother who has previously had children removed for child protection reasons.
• If the baby has been given up for adoption by the birth parents, meaning there is a period between the baby being given up and adoptive parents stepping in where the child needs care.
• The birth parent has known drug or alcohol related problems that will prevent them from providing full and adequate care for the child and a court has requested an assessment of their ability to look after the child.

Although when we think of fostering, many people will think of looking after a small, innocent baby who needs love and looking after, this is rarely the case. Of course, babies do sometimes need fostering. This is, however, nowhere near as common an occurrence as popular myth has people believe.

The UK Government National Statistics report on Children Looked After in England including Adoption: 2018 to 2019, finds that only 5% of those entering the care system that year are aged under 1 year. The largest age group that enters the care system are children between the ages of 10 and 15 who make up 39% of looked after children. The second largest age group is those aged over 16, making up 24% of fostered children. In actual fact, it is teenagers that most often need a loving foster home and family to support them.