Different types of foster care placement

This type of fostering involves caring for children or young people who need somewhere safe to stay immediately, usually for a few nights. This can often happen at very short notice.

Short-term foster carers provide a temporary place to stay until the child can return home to their own family, move into a longer-term fostering placement, or an adoptive family is found. This can last for a few weeks or months, sometimes longer.

When a child cannot return home, decisions have to be made to find a permanent family for them. For some children, such as those who are older or in regular contact with their birth family, long term foster care may be preferred to adoption.

Children and young people in long term foster care continue to be a legal part of their own family (even if they have only a limited amount of contact with them), but live with long term foster carers until they reach adulthood and they are ready to live independently.

In Scotland, a permanent family needs to be found for children and young people, but adoption may not be a suitable option as they may still have limited contact with their birth parents.

Respite involves children living with foster carers having short stays with another foster family to give their family/main carers a break. At FCA, this usually involves looking after a child or young person who is placed with FCA foster carers for a weekend, one week or two weeks.

Parent and Child placements are provided to a mother and/or father and their child/ren, where foster carers can provide support and guidance to the parent(s) and help them develop parenting skills.

Additional training is provided for foster carers providing Parent and Child placements. Some Parent and Child carers work as part of a professional team to undertake a formal assessment of the parenting ability of the mother and/or father.

Download our Parent and Child Placement Leaflet
 

Remand fostering placements are available to Local Authorities and Trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Remand foster carers look after young people who are remanded by the Courts into public care. These placements are usually short term and require the carer to work closely with the youth justice/offending teams. In Scotland, young people may be placed in foster care as an alternative to secure accommodation.

A Sanctuary Seeking child or young person is someone who is under 18 years of age, separated from parents/family and applying for asylum.

These children and young people have often travelled long distances (from countries such as Afghanistan and Iran), may not speak English and can be frightened and confused.

Foster carers are needed in most areas in the UK to provide a safe, stable and supportive home for Sanctuary Seeking children and young people. While there is a need for carers who reflect the culture and religious background of the children and young people, we recognise that often this is not possible. FCA will therefore provide specific training to all carers to assist with meeting the cultural, religious and identity needs of this group of children and young people, in addition to comprehensive information and the support of a dedicated Supervising Social Worker.

There are many disabled children and young people in the UK who need a fostering family. This can include children with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, sensory impairments or a combination of these.

Foster carers can provide regular short breaks for disabled children and young people. This provides vital support to both the child and their family.  

Intensive fostering offers children and young people who have been living in residential care the chance to live as part of a family. FCA provides a highly structured and individualised support package to intensive fostering placements in order to give our carers and young people the best chance of success. Carers and young people are also matched to ensure the best fit between fostering family and looked after young person.

Download our intensive fostering PDF to learn more.