Become a foster carer

You can apply to become a foster carer through a fostering service. A fostering service could be:

your local council
an independent foster care agency
a charity

Apply to become a foster carer with your local council

Find other registered fostering services on the Care Inspectorate website.

Who can become a foster carer

You can foster a child if you:

are a full-time resident in the UK
are aged 18 or over — some agencies will not let you foster until age 21 but there's no upper age limit
have a spare bedroom — some local councils may make exceptions depending on the child's age

You can foster a child regardless of:

whether you rent your home or own it
whether you have children already or not
whether you work full-time or not — though some local councils may only let you do some types of fostering if you work full-time
any 'protected characteristics' you have as part of the Equality Act (for example, your marital status, sexual orientation or religion)

Find out about protected characteristics on GOV.UK.

The application process

Your social worker will support you through the application process. They'll visit you at your home and talk to you in detail about fostering.

Preparation groups

You'll need to attend foster care preparation groups throughout the application process. These sessions will give you a chance to meet current foster carers who will explain what it's like and answer your questions.

Fostering assessment

Your fostering service will carry out an assessment to make sure you're suitable to become a foster carer. The assessment will also help you decide if fostering is right for you. Your social worker will support you through this process.

The assessment can take 6 to 12 months and checks:

your medical history
your criminal record
your finances
that your home is suitable for a child — this includes home visits from a social worker
with people who know you who can confirm the information on your application is true — you'll list these people in your application as 'referees'

After the assessment, you'll be told if you're recommended to the fostering panel to be approved as a foster carer.

Fostering panel

If you're recommended after the assessment, you'll be interviewed by a 'fostering panel'. This is a group of people with experience of social work and child protection.

The fostering panel will make a final decision on whether to approve you as a foster carer.

Appealing the decision if you're not approved

Speak to your local council's fostering team if you're unhappy with the decision not to approve you as a foster carer. They'll be able to tell you the reasons for the decision and give you information about how to appeal.

If you're approved as a foster carer

You'll need to sign a fostering agreement with your fostering service to confirm:

details of the support and training you'll get
that you'll treat any child you foster as if they're a member of your family
that you will not physically punish any child you foster

Fostering agreements will be different for each fostering service and some may have more things you need to agree to.

When a child is placed with you, you'll be told about their personal life, health and educational needs.

Foster carer reviews

After your first year, your fostering service will ask you to attend a fostering panel. The panel will:

check that you're still able to be a foster carer
ask you about your experience of fostering so far
find out what training and development you've had since starting as a foster carer

After your first foster carer review, you'll have a new review with a fostering panel every 2 years.

Get help with fostering between foster care reviews.

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