Types of Placement (including changes e.g. Adoption)

There are many different types of placements and some fostering agencies may not offer the full range. If you are considering adopting your foster child, please see: What If I want to Adopt my Foster Child or become a Special Guardian below.

Short term
This tends to last from a few weeks up to about 6 months. These placements are often whilst the Court decides what is best for the child in the long term.

Long term
This provides children with a safe and secure home until they reach independence and leave the care of the local authority. These placements can last until a young person reaches 18 years of age.

Same day
This is unplanned and these placements are a result of an unforeseen crisis. They can last for a few days up to a few weeks.

Parent and Child
This is where the child/ren and one or both parents are in the placement. This is a specialist role and entails observation, guidance and supervision rather than actively looking after the child.

Short breaks
Short breaks are not necessarily for children who are in care. They can be for children with disabilities who live at home and short break carers care for the child to give the parent(s) and child a break. This can be from a few hours per week up to a weekend. Short breaks also allow our carers to have a break.

Carer break
Carer break is leave specifically requested by the foster carer for their own purposes and not that of the child or young person placed and is not within the child/young person’s Child Plan.

Respite (now known as short breaks as per child’s care plan)
Respite care is an identified need of the child which is written into the child/young person’s Child Plan.

On approval the fostering service will decide how many children you are approved for, what age, sex and category of approval. There are times, however, when the fostering service may ask you to take a child/young person outside your approval range if it is felt this would be a way to meet the child's needs.

When this happens the fostering service can vary your approval for a short time either to allow for longer term plans to be made or for a review of your approval as a foster carer to be done so that your approval status can be changed in order to accommodate the child for a longer period.

The 'usual fostering limit' is three, so nobody may foster more than three children unless:

• The foster children are all siblings (then there is no upper limit); or
• The local authority within whose area the foster carer lives, exempts the carer from the usual fostering limit in relation to specific placements.

In considering whether to exempt a person from the usual fostering limit, the local authority must consider:

• The number of children whom the person proposes to foster;
• The arrangements which the person proposes for the care and accommodation of the fostered children;
• The intended and likely relationship between the person and the fostered children;
• The period of time for which he/she proposes to foster the children; and
• Whether the welfare of the fostered children (and any other children who are or will be living in the accommodation) will be safeguarded and protected.

Adopting a child is very different to fostering. This is about making a forever commitment to the child so this needs to be considered carefully. The most important thing is that there is a Permanence Plan for the child to be adopted and if this is the case and you would like to find out more, speak to your Supervising Social Worker.

If the decision is to proceed, an assessment will be done focusing on the potential of you as a prospective adopter and whether this will be in the long-term interests of the child. You will receive the same assessment, preparation and training as other prospective adopters.

Special Guardianship or Long-term fostering may be another option.

Special Guardianship addresses the needs of a significant group of children, who need a sense of stability and security but who do not wish to make the absolute legal break with their birth family that is associated with adoption. It also provides an alternative for achieving permanence in families where adoption, for cultural or religious reasons, is not an option. You can apply for a Special Guardianship Order once the child has lived with you for one year immediately preceding the application.

Special Guardians have Parental Responsibility for the child and although this is shared with the child's parents, the Special Guardian will have the clear responsibility for day to day matters without consultation with others. The parents still have to be consulted and their consent is required to the child's change of name, adoption, placement abroad and any other such fundamental issues. A Special Guardianship Order made in relation to a Looked After Child replaces the Care Order and the Local Authority no longer has Parental Responsibility. In these circumstances, the Care Order is revived if the Special Guardianship Order is revoked.

Special Guardians may be supported financially or otherwise by the local authority and, as with adoptive parents; they have the right to request an assessment for support services at any time after the Order is made.

Special Guardianship has the following advantages as a permanence plan:

• The carers have Parental Responsibility and clear authority to make decisions on day to day issues about the child's care;
• There is added legal security to the Order in that leave is required for parents to apply to discharge the Order and will only be granted if a change of circumstances can be established since the Order was made;
• It maintains legal links to the birth family;
• There need be no Social Worker involvement, unless this is identified as necessary, in which case an assessment of the need for support must be made by the relevant local authority.

Special Guardianship has the following disadvantages as a permanence plan:

• The Order only lasts until the child is 18 and does not necessarily bring with it the sense of belonging to the Special Guardian's family as an Adoption Order does;
• As the child is not a legal member of the family, if difficulties arise there may be less willingness to persevere and seek resolution;
• Although there are restrictions on applications to discharge the Order, such an application is possible and may be perceived as a threat to the child's stability.

Long term fostering has proved to be useful for older children who retain strong links with their birth families and do not need the formality of adoption and where you may value the continued involvement of the local authority.

Long-term fostering has the following advantages:

• The local authority retains a role in negotiating between you and the birth family over issues such as contact;
• There is continuing social work support to the child and your family in a placement that is regularly reviewed to ensure that the child's needs are met;
• It maintains legal links to the birth family that can still play a part in the decision-making for the child.

Long-term fostering has the following disadvantages:

• Lack of Parental Responsibility for you;
• Continuing social work involvement;
• Regular Looked After Reviews, which may be seen as unhelpful to the placement;
• Stigma attached to the child due to being in care;
• The child is not a legal member of the family. If difficulties arise there may be less willingness to persevere and seek resolution;
• Post care and/or post 18 the carers have no legal responsibility towards the young person.