We thought you might like to read exactly what happens when we receive an initial enquiry from someone interested in becoming a Foster Carer At The Acorns. We will request your contact details so that one of the team can phone you for an initial chat. At this stage we discuss fostering generally, our service and find out a little more about you. After which, one of our team may want to visit you in your home to discuss fostering further.

After that initial meeting, if everyone is still keen to progress your enquiry, you will be asked to complete an application form and a social worker will be assigned to begin a detailed assessment on you and your family’s suitability to foster and which type of fostering is likely to suit you best. In the meantime you will be invited to attend Skills to Foster Training.

The detailed assessment can take around four or five months to complete. Your assessor submits a full report to the fostering panel who will consider your suitability to foster and it’s the fostering panel that make a recommendation about your approval, or otherwise, to the fostering service.

On average, the approval journey can take around eight months from your first enquiry. This can seem like a long time, but fostering services need to make sure you are suitable and prepared as best they can, to foster a child or young person in your local community.

Sometimes a child can be placed with you as soon as you are approved as a Foster Carer At The Acorns. For others, it can take a while for a child to arrive as we always undertake a matching process to ensure that you are the right Foster Carer to look after a particular child or children. That’s because we find that making a good match is essential for a successful fostering placement.

Throughout your career as a Foster Carer At The Acorns, you will receive support and supervision as well as on-going learning and development. Your approval to foster is also reviewed annually to ensure that circumstances haven’t changed.

Still interested in becoming a Foster Carer At The Acorns? If you care about changing children’s lives, are over 21, a full-time resident of the UK (or have leave to remain) and have a spare bedroom then get in touch today and start the process!