Fostering a disabled child
The role of an independent fostering agency
How to choose a foster care agency
Can I choose who I foster?
What are the benefits of fostering with an independent fostering agency?
What happens when a child is taken into care?
Fostering process: what happens on an initial home visit?
Fostering with local authority vs independent agency
A complete guide to becoming a foster carer
How Are Children in Foster Care Matched with Carers?
Foster Care Budgeting Tips
Becoming A Foster Carer
What is a Care Leaver?
What is a Foster Carer?
Fostering Regulations
How long does it take to become a Foster Carer?
What are the Foster Care requirements?
Changing IFA - Transferring to Capstone
8 reasons why a child may be taken into care
Fostering as a Career
Can you foster if you smoke or vape?
A guide to fostering assessments
LGBTQ+ Fostering
Equality, Inclusion & Anti-discriminatory Practice in Foster Care
What can disqualify you from foster care?
Can you foster if you’re on benefits?
Top transferable job skills to become a foster carer
Fostering as a same sex couple
Fostering while renting
Can you foster if you have mental health issues?
Is there an age limit for fostering in the UK?
Do foster carers get a pension?
How to foster a child: A step by step guide
How do DBS Checks Work?
Can I foster if...?
Mythbusting the top 10 Foster Care Myths
Can I foster if I am disabled?
LGBT Fostering Mythbusting
Can I foster if I have pets?
Can I Foster A Child?
Can I Foster and Work?
Can you Foster with a Criminal Record
Can Single People Foster?
LGBT Family and Foster Care
Fostering across Cultures
Muslim Fostering
Christian Foster Care
Sikh Fostering
Empty Nest Syndrome and Foster Care
Can I Foster?
What is the difference between residential care and foster care?
Fostering Babies and Young Children
What is Kinship Care?
Fostering Babies - Myths
Focusing on Parent & Child Fostering
Fostering Siblings
Fostering Teenagers
Fostering Teenagers - Breaking down the Myths
Fostering Unaccompanied and Asylum Seeking Children
Mother and Baby Foster Placements
Private Fostering
How does therapeutic fostering work?
Young Children Fostering Placements
Difference between short and long-term fostering
Types of self-harm
A Guide to the Foster Care Handbook
Reunification and Birth Parents: A Guide for Foster Carers
What is an EHC Plan? A Guide for Foster Carers
How to prepare a child for becoming a care leaver
Children who foster: impact of fostering on birth children
Fostering LGBTQ+ Youth
How to prepare your home for a foster child
How to help a lonely child: A Guide for Foster Carers
What are the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services?
10 tips for foster children's education
How to prepare your foster child for secondary school
Tips for coping when foster placements end
Tips for foster parents during Coronavirus
What happens if foster parents get divorced?
5 ways to manage Mother's Day with foster children
Tips for managing foster children's bedtime routines
How to handle foster child bullying
Fostering allowances and the gender pay gap
What discounts can foster carers get?
How to adopt from Foster Care
5 ways to manage Father's Day for children in foster care
8 most common fostering challenges
FosterTalk Membership with Capstone Foster Care
Supporting foster children's contact with birth families
A guide to independent fostering
Keeping Children Safe Online: A Guide For Foster Carers
Movies About Foster Care
Play-based learning strategies for foster carers
A Guide to the Staying Put Program
Why Foster Parent Wellbeing Matters
How to deal with empty nest syndrome
How to recognise signs of depression in foster children
Can you take a foster child on holiday?
Tips and advice on fostering with a disability
10 tips on connecting with your Foster Child
Fostering vs Adoption - What's the difference?
How Fostering can change a future
How to adopt from Foster Care
How to encourage children to read in Foster Care
How to prepare a Foster Child's bedroom
Reading and Storytelling with Babies and Young Children
Supporting Children's Learning
The 20 most recommended books Foster Carers and young people should read
Things you can do when your children leave home
The impact of early childhood traumas on adolescence and adulthood
Anxious Disorders in Foster Children
What is sexual abuse and sexual violence
Foster Child behaviour management strategies
Foster Parent Advice: What to expect in your first year of fostering
Capstone's twelve tips at Christmas
10 celebrities who grew up in Foster Care
Could Millenials be the solution to the Foster Care crisis?
Do you work in Emergency Services?
Form F Assessor and Assessment Training
Foster Care Fortnight
Improving Children's Welfare - Celebrating Universal Children's Day
New Year - New Career - Become a Foster Carer
Young People Charities
Thinking of fostering? As a foster parent, you have the power to make a positive impact on a child’s life through both long and short-term fostering arrangements. From providing a soft place to land during an emergency to creating a stable, loving home, your support could totally transform a young person’s care experience.
Before starting your fostering journey, it’s helpful to think about the kind of foster parent you want to become and the impact you want to make. Knowing the difference between short-term and long-term fostering can help you reach this decision and begin shaping your fostering career.
Learn the key differences between short and long-term fostering arrangements and which type of foster care best suits your lifestyle, skillset and goals as a foster parent.
Short-term placements can vary from a single night in an emergency up to a two-year placement. Most often, a short-term fostering arrangement will last until the child’s legal care proceedings are finalised, which usually takes around 25-26 weeks. At this point, a long-term plan will be made for the child, determining whether they can safely return to their birth family or whether it’s in their best interest to move on to a long-term fostering solution.
Most foster children start out on a short-term foster care plan, otherwise known as a temporary fostering arrangement. As a short-term foster parent, your main priority is to support the child while care proceedings or care hearings are happening, as this can be an incredibly challenging time for a young person. From providing a safe and stable home environment to lending an ear as they navigate this intense period of change, offering kindness and compassion during a chapter of uncertainty can have a lasting effect on a young person’s future.
From a few hours to a few days
Our emergency fostering arrangements provide a short-term solution for children and young people who need immediate protection or sanctuary. As a foster carer, your role is to care for the child or young person whilst social workers assess the safety of their home and determine next steps.
Learn more about Emergency Foster Care.
From a weekend to a couple of weeks
Respite fostering, otherwise known as planned breaks, is a short break for both carers and children in care. All of our carers are entitled to a 14-day respite allowance should they need it. As such, our respite foster carers play a pivotal role in the wellbeing of our foster families.
Learn more about Planned Breaks
12 weeks
Parent and child placements, also known as mother and baby fostering arrangements, involve taking care of a baby and their parent. This specialist type of foster care is designed to provide a safe home for the family, whilst the parents develop the skills to parent independently.
Learn more about Parent and Child arrangements.
Learn more about Short-Term Fostering
The phrase long-term foster care doesn’t just describe the length of time the child is in foster care. It also refers to the care plan the young person is receiving. Unlike a temporary arrangement, permanent fostering arrangements are intended to provide lasting stability to young people who are unlikely to return to their families.
As a long-term foster carer, your aim is to establish consistency and, ultimately, a sense of safety and comfort for the young person in your care until they reach adulthood. From supporting their education and interests to attending medical appointments and meeting with their dedicated social worker, your daily efforts will help shape them and their future beyond foster care.
If a child is unable to return to their family and adoption isn’t a viable option, we aim to find them a permanent foster family to provide them with a stable, loving home until they reach adulthood.
Learn more about Long-Term arrangements
When a young person reaches the age of 18, they are legally no longer in foster care. However, the ‘Staying Put Program’ allows them to continue staying with their foster family if both the child and foster parent are happy for them to do so.
Learn more about the Staying Put Program
Both long and short-term routes present opportunities to positively impact a young person’s life. However, it’s important to understand that you will likely support a range of fostering arrangements during your time as a foster parent, as arrangements often change as children's needs and circumstances evolve. Therefore, rather than choosing a preferred type of fostering, we’ll work together to determine which fostering arrangements are best suited to your lifestyle.
For example, fostering short-term requires flexibility in your routine. From accepting emergency placements to sending a child to a new family, you will need to adapt quickly to change and may be called upon with little notice. Alternatively, long-term foster arrangements are intended to create a permanent home for a young person, so your consistent presence will be key to successfully establishing lasting connections through daily acts of care and consideration.
Despite being a highly rewarding vocation, there is a national shortage of foster carers in the UK, so we’re urging current and prospective foster carers to get in touch to see how, together, we can change a young person’s future.
To find out more about the different types of fostering and which fostering arrangements best align with your goals and values, submit an enquiry and a member of our helpful team will call you back to provide you with all the help and guidance you may need.
If you’ve got any questions or would like to find out more about fostering with Capstone, fill out the form below.
An experienced fostering advisor from your local area will then be in touch.
Start the conversation today. Our team of friendly advisors are on hand to answer any foster care questions you may have. We can offer you honest and practical advice that can help you decide if becoming a foster carer is the right path for you.
