Ever thought of fostering?

Over 21? Spare bedroom? Sense of humour?

There are many different types of foster care and virtually anybody can foster. Don’t be put off because you are single, you have a disability, because of your sexual orientation, you are unemployed, you are not a home owner, you thought you would be too old.

People with offences against children or crimes of violence cannot foster, however other convictions do not necessarily mean you can’t. This all depends on the type of offence, how long ago it was and how you’ve lived your life since.

Rochdale needs foster carers for children of all ages and for different time scales. The different schemes are:

Respite foster care
Respite carers are usually people who have thought about fostering though are unable to commit to full time placements, usually due to work or family commitments.

Respite carers offer placement to children and young people to provide the birth family or foster carers a break from the sometimes stressful task of caring for children.

A series of short breaks are arranged usually within set time periods with the children or young people staying with the same respite carers. The children usually stay for a couple of nights to a month though sometimes more.

Temporary Fostering
Temporary foster carers look after children whilst a period of crisis is overcome. Once problems have been sorted out the children move back home to their own families or if this is not possible until a more permanent foster or adoptive family is found. Temporary carers will generally not look after children for more than 2 years, though much of the care they provide is for much shorter periods.

Permanent Fostering

When children are unable to return home to their birth families and adoption is not an option, we place those children with Permanent Foster Carers. The children stay with these types of carers until they reach an age where they can live independently. Permanent Foster Carers have a vital role in the preparation of young people being able to live independently and therefore help young people with life skills such as budgeting, cooking and keeping house.

Contract Fostering

Contract fostering is a specialist long term (permanent) fostering scheme for a small number of children (aged 7 and over), who persistently display the most challenging emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Such children and young people have great and complex needs and so require a high level of supervision and attention. Experience with these young people suggests they benefit from being the only child in the fostering family.

Contract foster carers are paid a fee and cannot take on other forms of employment.

Fostering children and young people with disabilities - multi-link foster care

We are looking for a multilink carer to offer specialist fostering to children with learning disabilities or autism for agreed short breaks.

As a multi-link carer you will be linked with 6-8 children who will stay with you for up to 24 nights each, per year on a rota basis. You are expected to provide 210 nights care per year and attend 10 days training. In addition you will be available for 10 days of meetings and reviews in any 12 month period.

We appreciate that caring for children with complex needs can be extremely challenging and reassure you that you will not be alone.

As a Multi-link carer you will recieve lots of support from your social worker as well as input from education, occupational therapy and other professionals.

In addition you will receive 5 weeks holiday per year plus bank holidays (or time in lieu if worked).

All necessary equipment like beds, wardrobes, bedding and so on are provided. Multi-link carers are paid an allowance of £22,244 per year. It must be noted that this is not a wage but rather an allowance to meet the needs of the children and young people in their care. 

Contact the fostering team for more information on how you can become a foster carer. There are about 80 children in the borough who need your help.

Email: FamilyPlacement@rochdale.gov.uk

Tel: 01706 710750