What is Foster Care

Foster care is a planned and sometimes time limited alternative living arrangement for children whose parents are unable to care for them at home. 

A foster family is usually unrelated to the child, but especially matched to the child's needs and circumstances. The match is a crucial aspect of fostering, so the carer can meet every aspect of the child's needs including ethnicity, religion, background and understanding.

Children are in care for varying lengths of time. The usual plan is for the child to return home. If it is not possible for the children to return home, they are then considered as a longer term placement.

A goal of all placements is for contact  to be maintained between the child and their family. If on-going contact is not possible, children still need knowledge about their family and the role of the foster carer will be to promote this with the support of the agency staff.