Kid Zone

When your family decide to foster it is a big decision for everyone. Your mum and/or dad might have first thought about fostering, they will become a foster parent but you will become a foster brother or sister, which makes you a foster family.

Becoming a foster family means that there will be some changes in your family, it is a great thing to do but can also be a little scary at times. It’s very important that you ask questions and find out lots of information about fostering like “What’s it like to be a foster brother or sister? It is very important that you get to ask questions and talk to our friendly social worker & team so if you have any worries we can help you and your parent/s talk through them.

Park Foster Care wants to do the very best job it can to look after children that cannot live at home and need to live with foster families. We help those foster families to do this wonderful job, social workers and staff at Park Foster Care are always there to support not only your mum and/or dad but also you, to answer any questions, to keep you informed about becoming a foster family and to get to know you. Below are some questions we think you might have but just ask the social worker if you have any others.

Once your mum and/or dad have decided that you want to become a foster family, they send an application form to a fostering agency, who then visit your family and talk about why you want to do this and give you all lots more information. After this is everyone is happy to continue, then lots of paperwork is completed and a social worker comes to visit you, to do an assessment, they will talk to you and ask what you think and answer any questions you have. The assessing social worker writes a report with all the information s/he has gathered and if everyone is happy with this, a group of people called a Fostering Panel read it and hopefully agree that you can be a foster family. The Decision Maker makes the final decision. All of this work takes between 4 – 6 months.

It can be strange at first because you now have another person living in your house that you are sharing your mum and/or dad with. It can be lots of fun as you have someone new to play with but it also takes time to get to know the foster child.  They might feel sad or angry that they can’t live with their own mum or dad and that might make you feel sad for them.

Children who need to come and live with foster families, are all different, from different backgrounds, different ages, different religions and sometimes there are brothers and sisters who need a foster family together. Your mum and/or dad might decide that they will look after more than one foster child, so it might be a brother and sister who come to live with you.

When you first become a foster family, there is lots to do and learn and this does take time, so for a short time it might feel a bit different. However, it soon settles down as you all get used to each other and do the things you have always done as a family, some things might need to change a little bit but your mum and/or dad will talk to you about this and why.

Your parent/s will make sure that they find the time to spend with you doing your hobbies, interests and fun and things.

It’s great that you have questions and one of the ways that we help you learn more about fostering is by sending you some child friendly information.

‘My Family Fosters’ is a booklet that explains what fostering means and talks about why children and young people need foster homes. It explores some of the concerns sons and daughters may have, and suggests practical ways in which foster families can adapt and work together in helping a new child or young person into the family.

We run lots of fun events for our foster families throughout the year. Activities are available for both foster children and birth children, to give them the best opportunities and to allow them to socialise with other families and young people.

You can find more information on our most recent event by clicking the button below.