Types of fostering

These are unexpected placements that result from an emergency or other immediate reason.

They are usually without any notice and on the same day. Beacon Fostering provides support on a 24-hour basis to help with emergency placements and out of hours help. It is important for foster carers to be ready for emergency placements if this is one of your approval types.

We are passionate about providing therapeutic support to foster carers and children to support their overall wellbeing, and to achieve excellent outcomes.

Therapeutic placements can be more challenging, and this is where specialist training, extra support and input from a therapist can make a difference. Therapeutic fostering can be for children that have been subject to neglect, abuse, suffered trauma or have higher behavioural or psychological needs.

This is where a parent and their child is placed in a warm and safe environment with a fostering family.

The child if often young, or a newly born baby. The placement in fostering can then allow the parent to learn further about caring for their child and learning about parenting.

The foster carers can share their experiences, support for both parent and child and parenting knowledge. This can help empower the parent to become more confident with their own care and support for their own child.

When being a parent and child foster carer, you will work in partnership with other professionals as part of team including social workers, health professionals and other advisors. This is to help arrive at the best way forward and support to the parent and child.

The placement often involves a parenting assessment over a 12-week period for the parent on their wellbeing, support for the child and their overall future care.

These are placements for the longer term, when the child or young person becomes part of your family and is likely to remain to age 18 or for several years overall.

They are likely to be enrolled at the local school or education establishment near you, and will feel safe, happy and secure in your home. Long term placements are planned and matched together.

This type of fostering provides the opportunity for brothers and sisters to remain together.

This is often a key aim, and the best for each child or young person in the sibling group, so it is really important to us. Supporting more children does involve that extra effort, energy, time and commitment, and therefore it is good to be experienced as foster carers and have a positive support network.

This involves supporting young persons that are child refugees or unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (often referred to as UASC).

These are young persons that are likely to have experienced trauma from travelling from their own countries to the UK. This can be countries that are impacted by war, conflict or other challenges.

The relevant young person can often have physical or psychological needs, and it is important to consider this at the matching stage. Relevant countries with higher number of UASCs coming to the UK include (but are not limited to) Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Albania and Ukraine.

The areas to ensure that are supported and covered include language, religious needs, specific dietary needs, educational support and their health. Young persons are often aged 15 or above and can be subject to an age assessment.

The young person will be involved in meetings, interviews on their legal status and position on their visa or residency. This can be a concerning and difficult time for the young person and therefore foster carers will need to be able to provide support on the emotions and how this may impact UASCs.

These are short term placements from a day, weekend or few weeks.

They are often to provide the ongoing foster carers with a break from fostering, or it can be good for the best for child or young person to spend a short time away from their birth family or foster carers. Respite placements are planned, and relevant matching is important.