The independent fostering agency

“As a rule, we don’t recruit carers on the basis of them being permanent foster carers,” begins Kwesi.“But during the assessment process, it might become apparent that someone might best be suited for permanency, or they may express a preference fo rthat.” This will be explored with applicants. “The key factor is their motivation,” he explains. “We look at all sorts things: why permanent fostering as opposed to adoption? We find out why they are applying at this particular stage in their lives, and what they can offer a child.”

Realistic expectations

The agency is also keen to ascertain how realistic applicants’ perceptions are of what permanent fostering will entail, and how different it is to short-term – or task-centred – fostering. They look at areas where the long-term implications will make a difference, including practical ones such as space issues, the age of their own children and the impact of having a child permanently joining their family, and other changes that may take place in their family in the future. Families will be asked to explore themes such as attachment or parenting, partly based on their own past and family experience. “We also want them to have an understanding of child development issues over the long term,” says Kwesi, “an appreciation of how things in the child’s past will develop and impact the child, perhaps in terms of behaviour, and how they will manage that, all the way to adulthood.”

Assessment

“For permanent fostering, the assessment process has a different emphasis,” explains Kwesi. “We focus strongly on the resilience of applicants, and also the stability in their own family circumstances. We look at the progress of their own relationship. We need to have evidence of their own stability, and generally their ability to provide a permanent, sustainable situation for a child over the years to come.” If someone is interested in permanent fostering, the agency may recommend that they try task-centred fostering first so that they gain experience with fostering, and so the agency can assess the carer’s skills and abilities, before placing a child with them permanently – they would need to go back to panel at that stage to be approved as a permanent foster carer. “If a family has their own children, and they find it difficult forming relationships with the children fostered by the family and then letting go, or if they struggle with the unpredictability of short-term fostering, then it’s a good indicator that this family might be better suited to permanency.” Because they have traditionally been recruiting short-term foster carers, the agency is currently reviewing how they work with permanent foster carers. Frequency of visits and checks and procedures, which are essential for short-term placements, may seem undermining in permanency – that was the feedback they received from some of their carers. “We want to be more supporting of the permanency of the situation,” admits Kwesi. “Children who are permanently fostered do not want to be constantly reminded of the difference between them and other children in the family.”

Permanence

For Kwesi, permanent foster carers need to strike a fine balance between being a family, and a trained, professional carer. “The permanent foster placement is about providing nurturing and healing, and addressing any issues that might be there for the child,” he explains. “Addressing these issues is shared between the permanent foster carer, the local authority responsible for the child, and the fostering agency. There is a whole team of people working towards the most significant relationship being just between the permanent foster carer and the child.” And the focus, of course, is on the permanence of this relationship. “There needs to be an acknowledgement of that family’s status as permanent carers for the child, so that he or she can appreciate that this is now their permanent family.”

Visit The Fostering Partnership or call 020 7737 7333 (London) or 0845 3455463 (Manchester).

Find an agency in your area or attend an information event near you.

Originally published in the Be My Parent newspaper in May 2010.

This article is published with the kind permission of the people involved. You may download it for your own reference but if you wish to use it for any other purpose, please contact Be My Parent for authorisation: Be My Parent, BAAF, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Telephone: 020 7421 2666.

Last updated: 04 May 10

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