Temporary or short-term foster care
This can be anything from a few days to over a year, in which children live with a foster carer while attempts are made to work with parents to assess whether the child can return home. This involves working directly with parents while providing the children with consistent care and nurture. Foster carers find this both challenging and rewarding work.
Long-term or permanent foster care
Long-term fostering is for children who cannot go home to their birth family but nevertheless need to retain their own identity and some contact with their birth family. This allows children and young people to experience the stability of being part of a foster family throughout their childhood and is usually the best option for older children.
Respite foster carer/shared carer
Respite foster carers are needed to:
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provide children with a regular or occasional weekend or short breaks to let their parents have a break or recuperate, rather like an aunt and uncle;
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provide full-time foster carers with a regular or occasional break at weekends or holiday periods;
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provide children who are living in residential schools, with no family to return to on weekends or holidays, with a family experience.
Short-break carers for children with disabilities
Short-break carers provide care to children with disabilities for weekends or holidays. Specialist support is provided by the Children with Disabilities Team| to the children, their families and their carers.