What is Foster Care?
Foster Care is a safeguarding system put in place in order to provide safe, stable family homes for vulnerable young people.
When a young person under the age of 18 can no longer live with their birth parents, for a variety of reasons, they are placed within the foster care system which provides temporary to long term care in a family environment, under the care of dedicated Foster Carers.
Children and young people come into care through the local authority who are then placed with either their own Foster Carers, or with a dedicated fostering agency, such as Blue Sky Fostering.
Even though local authorities have their own team of Foster Carers, they rely on independent agencies to offer additional support, not only to the Foster Carers, but with placements where a child has additional needs or a sibling group needs to be kept together.
As an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ foster agency, we take great pride in recruiting and training high-quality Foster Carers, and matching them with the young people who come into care, to get the best out of each foster placement for both the children in our care and our foster families.
What is a Foster Carer?
A Foster Carer is a self-employed carer who looks after children and young people under the age of 18, whilst they can no longer live with their birth parents. Foster Carers take the roles and responsibilities of a parent in order to provide the young person with a safe, family home with care, support and compassion.
They must be willing to open up their home to vulnerable young people and provide them with the best care in order for them to grow and thrive. Foster Carers are required to be responsible for the young person’s needs and welfare providing a home, education, hobbies, sports, clothing, healthcare, as well as providing love, understanding, support, and guidance.
Our Foster Carers don’t work alone, they are required to work in a team, amongst professionals involved in the welfare of the young person, and are given training, fully comprehensive support and guidance.