What to Expect in Your First Year as a Foster Carer

Life as a foster carer

So you’ve made it through the fostering assessment process and have been matched with your first foster child. What else can you expect when fostering for the first time?

Helping a child settle in

Of course, the most important thing you’ll have to do once you’ve been matched with a child is to welcome them into your home and help them to settle in. Make sure your first day with them is quiet so that they’ve got a chance to explore your home and get to know you and your immediate family first.

Show them around your home, including where the toilet is, as well as their bedroom. They may want some alone time in their room first to acclimatise to their new space. Have a discussion about food, asking what their favourites are and assuring them that there’s enough food for everyone.

Alison, one of our foster parents, knows that creating routines and making daily life predictable is key to helping children settle into your home. She says, “I treated her the same way I treated my own children. She saw her room, her space, and from day one, I introduced her to my family. I wanted her to feel part of something.”

Keep on top of admin

As with any job, you’ll still have admin to take care of as a foster parent, which could include paperwork relevant to fostering, your foster care allowance or any tax relief you’re entitled to. Make sure to keep track of anything relevant to your costs as a foster parent so that you can claim any relevant tax relief.

Some of the post-assessment fostering paperwork that you’ll have to complete includes:

• Foster carer agreement.
• Placement planning.
• Daily logs.
• Monthly progress reports.
• Training records.
• Annual reviews.
• Ad hoc paperwork when required.

This fostering paperwork serves several purposes, including making sure that your home is safe and stable for any children staying with you, and that you’ve got the support you need.

Managing behaviour

A critical aspect of fostering will be how you manage the behaviour of any foster children in your care. It’s important to remember that this isn’t like raising your own children – any behaviour that presents as argumentative or difficult is a response to trauma from their past.

You can set clear boundaries when you welcome them into your home. However, it’ll be important to be patient, as some children may not have had things like set bedtimes or curfews before. Open and honest communication will be crucial, too, to ensure that they know this is a safe space.

If a foster child has a meltdown, stay as calm as possible to help regulate their emotions. Make them understand that they’re not in trouble or danger, and once they’re calm, discuss with them why they acted in a certain way. They will need stability and safety to fully settle in and work through any trauma they may have.

Take advantage of training opportunities

During your first year of fostering, you’ll complete our mandatory training courses, which cover a huge range of topics – from safeguarding and first aid to health and safety and PRICE.

Once you’ve settled into your role, you can begin exploring our advanced training, which you can tailor to your interests and your foster child’s needs. Some of the topics you can learn more about include understanding neurodiversity, eating disorders, bullying, supporting children through grief, and many more.

Our training is flexible, delivered both face-to-face at your local Fosterplus office and online via Teams, making it easier to fit into your schedule.

Attending meetings

Another aspect of fostering is that you’ll have to attend meetings relevant to your role as a foster parent. Foster care meetings are an important part of fostering, as they ensure every professional involved in the child’s care understands how they’re getting on in their foster home, at school, and during family time arrangements.

Some of these meetings could include parent’s evenings, medical appointments that your foster child needs, Looked After Child (LAC) reviews, placement planning meetings, Personal Education Plan (PEP) meetings, supervision meetings, and contact planning meetings.

There may be other types of meetings that you’ll have to attend if there are any concerns or issues. It’s understandable if you feel a little overwhelmed by the meetings at first, but these are there to support you and the child in your care. Your role is to act as an advocate for your child and speak up on their behalf.

Make use of support available to you as a foster parent

Here at Fosterplus, we pride ourselves on the support that we offer our foster parents. From the fostering assessment process through to welcoming your first foster child and beyond, we’re here to support you at every step.

When you join us, you’ll have a dedicated social worker who will act as your first point of contact. They’re there to support you whenever you need their help and to answer any questions you may have.

Alongside your social worker you’ll also have access to a 24/7 helpline that you can call any time of day or night, an online support hub, in person support groups, and foster carer mentors.

Andy, one of our foster parents, said, “We chose to move to Fosterplus because they were open and honest, answering the questions I asked them. You’ve got to be able to speak openly, and we thought ‘they have been honest with us – this is the agency for us’.

“And you need that team around you, to support you, in order to be able to look after the children. We’ve been fully supported since we came to the agency. It’s completely different; like chalk and cheese.”

Taking children to family time arrangements

Foster children in your care will likely have to attend family time arrangements, which gives them an opportunity to meet with their birth family and maintain connections. Part of your role will be getting them to these family time arrangements if they want to maintain contact with their family.

Family time arrangements are important for children in care, as this helps them to stay in contact with their birth family members if it’s safe to do so. They can keep up to date with any information relevant to their family, and it can also support children to decide how to manage their relationships with these family members in the future.

It’s worth noting that children may find family time upsetting or stressful, and this could be reflected in their behaviour. It’ll be important to be mindful of the impact of family time and record any changes of behaviour to share with the child’s social worker.