Enquire Today
Please complete our online enquiry form.
Once this form is received by UChoose2Foster, we will ONLY forward to the Therapeutic Fostering Service that we partner with in your region.
They will then make contact with you and support you with your new fostering journey. All therapeutic fostering services have different processes but please take a look at this assessment process chart as a generic guide.
In detail
Stage 1
Once you have completed and returned your “Expression of Interest form”, your local Therapeutic Fostering Service will arrange for one of their team to contact you by telephone. Following this, an initial home visit may be arranged to discuss your Expression of Interest further. It is a two-way discussion to help you understand more about fostering and the assessment process and to enable the Social Worker to gather information about you and your family.
If the outcome of the initial visit is to progress, you will be required to attend a two or three day training course called ‘Skills to Foster’, which should be fun and informative. The trainers will produce feedback which will be considered as part of your Expression of Interest.
If the outcome of the “Skills to Foster” course is to progress, the regional Therapeutic Fostering Service will undertake a variety of statutory and non-statutory safeguarding checks including an Enhanced DBS Check, Local Authority check, employer and/or current fostering organisation, ex-partner references, children of previous relationships, voluntary work references, school/health visitor reports (in relation to your children), medical reports, personal references and a health and safety audit of your home.
Each service is unique in its approach, but please take a look at this generic safeguarding checklist as all services are regulated by Ofsted and have a range of safeguarding processes to satisfy. Once all of the above checks and references have been returned, all information will be reported to the Fostering Services ADM, which stands for (Agency Decision Maker), who will make the final decision in terms of not continuing with your Expression of Interest or agreement to assign a qualified Social Worker to undertake a full fostering assessment (Stage 2). You should be informed of either decision within 10 working days of the final safeguarding checks being received.
Stage 2
If the Agency Decision Maker is in agreement for you to progress to a full fostering assessment, Stage 2 will commence. You will then be allocated an Assessing Social Worker, who will need to visit your home on numerous occasions to gather information about you and your family and to provide you with information about fostering with them.
The Social Worker will produce an assessment report that is sometimes referred to as a Form F. Amongst other things this provides information about you and your family of origin, significant personal relationships you have had and your current family, your health, education, employment, support network, accommodation and lifestyle, financial circumstances, income and expenditure, the reasons you wish to foster, your understanding of fostering and the way it will affect you and your family.
At the end of the assessment, your fostering report will be presented to the fostering services Fostering Panel. You will need to attend the Fostering Panel to meet with the Panel members. They will consider your assessment and will then make a recommendation about your approval as Therapeutic Foster parent(s); the final decision is made by the ADM (Agency Decision Maker).
Whilst each assessment is an individual process and the length of time an assessment takes varies to some extent, the fostering service should endeavour to ensure that the Stage 2 process is completed within three to four months. If you are currently fostering for another fostering service and wish to transfer to a Therapeutic Fostering Service, then Stage 1 and Stage 2 can happen concurrently. Should you have children and young people in placement, protocol meetings will form part of Stage 1.
