Parent and Child Fostering
What is ‘parent and child’ fostering?
Parent and child fostering offers a parent or both parents support and guidance in caring for their baby or child and the opportunity to develop a strong foundation for their future lives together. These type of arrangements are usually made when a local authority is concerned about a parent’s ability to care for their child.
This type of fostering tends to be short-term, lasting around 12 weeks. However, you must be available and committed to supporting the parent around the clock, especially during those crucial early stages of the child’s development.
Whilst knowledge and skills are developed through training, experience with young children is also important for parent and child fostering. This could be through your own parenting experience or a profession, such as midwifery, paediatrics or early years’ teaching.
Parent and child fostering is challenging but highly rewarding and would suit anybody who is passionate about seeing children thrive, supporting and forming positive attachments and keeping families together.
This specialist service may be provided to a mother, father or both and their children, before or after a baby’s arrival and placement types can be described as follows:
Assessment placements
Once a baby has arrived, the local authority may wish to complete an assessment on the parent’s ability to care for their child. During this period, foster carers, amongst other things, will need to record their observations, to contribute to the ongoing assessment.
Pre-birth placements
An expectant mother will stay with a foster carer, to help them to prepare for the arrival of their child.
Parenting support placements
This type of support is offered to vulnerable parents with young children, who may need to learn basic care skills and how to provide a safe, nurturing environment for their child. They are usually short-term arrangements and as a parent and child foster carer, you will have two main tasks
- To support the parent (or parents) and help them to develop their parenting skills
- To observe and contribute to an assessment of how well the parent looks after their child
By teaching parents how to meet the ever-changing needs of their children, we hope to keep more young families together.
Could you foster? If so click here, start the process and apply today!
Please also see our Internet Search Policy and Ex-Offenders Recruitment Procedure when completing your Application Form.
Apply now: You can either post your application form or email it to: info@chrysaliscare.org
Open Days and online information sessions
Visit Chrysalis Care on one of our open days or join one of our online information sessions to find out more about fostering and how you can transform children and young peoples’ lives as well as your own!