About fostering
Click here to meet Newham foster carer Sheryl
Fostering involves looking after someone else’s child or teenager in your own home on a short or long term basis.
Children come into care for all sorts of reasons. It might be due to a parent’s ill health, family problems or because they have been neglected or abused. A child may need a safe place to stay for a few weeks or months and, in some cases, until they have grown up.
The different types of fostering
Emergency – when you provide a child somewhere safe to stay overnight or for the weekend.
Respite – when you care for a child with special needs for a short time, on a planned and regular basis. This allows the child’s parents or usual foster carer to have a break themselves.
Short term – when you look after a child for a few weeks, a few months or even a few years whilst the child’s future is planned and agreed.
Long term – when you foster a child who cannot return to their own family but adoption is not the most appropriate option for them. This might be because the child or young person continues to have regular contact with their relatives. The child will stay with you until they are eighteen years old and are ready to live independently.