What is fostering?

Fostering is a way of providing a safe, stable and caring home for a child who is unable to live with their parents. It is a challenging, yet rewarding, role that offers you the opportunity to support a child to rebuild their self-confidence and self-esteem. Foster carers aim to provide new experiences and support children to make choices and achieve their true potential.

Children and young people who come into foster care can be from a diverse range of backgrounds and are likely to have experienced trauma such as neglect, abuse and separation from their family. Your role as a foster carer is to understand and listen to the child, walk alongside them in their life, acknowledge their experiences and support them to thrive. A caring relationship between foster carer and a looked after child can help them reach their true potential, in spite of their experiences.