For you to become a foster carer two things need to happen:

• you need to know enough about it to be sure it is right for you
• we need to make sure you are safe and suitable to trust with vulnerable children.

On average it takes 4-6 months to get the assessment done.

Initial visits
We like to visit and have a discussion with everyone who contacts us. This helps us decide, with you, if coming into fostering is the right thing for you at this point in your life.

Initial Training Courses
We invite you to a weekend in Malvern, Worcestershire, to learn about us and about fostering on The Fostering Network’s ‘Skills to Foster’ course. You will be put up in local hotels and have a chance to get to know staff, carers and other applicants both during the training and in an informal way during your stay.

The ‘Home Study’ or ‘Form F’
Sounds scary and it involves seven or eight visits to you at home,
Criminal Records Bureau clearance (including police check), a medical and visits to referees. The best way of looking at it is, what would you want to check out about a stranger who was going to look after your child or a child important to you?