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
Fostering as a couple has many benefits, from supporting one another during challenging situations to working together to transform the lives of young people in care. However, despite starting this journey together, sometimes, foster parents can find themselves in a position where they want to file for a divorce or separate.
But what happens to foster families if foster parents decide to divorce or separate? We’ll guide you through the official foster care process, before breaking down the impact on foster parents and the children in your care.
At any time during a foster care placement, if a ‘significant change’ happens within the family home, your fostering arrangement will be re-evaluated to ensure you’re able to continue the supporting the children in your care. A significant change could be many things, not just separation or divorce. Other examples include, but aren’t limited to:
It’s important to notify your social worker as soon as possible when experiencing such changes, not only to ensure your foster children are supported, but to ensure you are receiving the help you need to navigate this period of intense change.
Once you have notified your social worker of your wish to divorce or separate, they will arrange a visit to complete an interim report to be presented to a fostering panel. Remember, this process is in place to protect both our foster children and carers, so there’s no need to worry.
During this process, you and your foster care team will discuss whether it’s both practical and suitable for the children and young people in your care to remain with one foster carer. If so, they will review what additional support will be needed within the fostering household.
It is possible for foster children to remain with their primary foster parent when going through a divorce. However, this is contingent on that carer being able to continue providing the safety and stability their foster children need. So, a new fostering assessment will need to be completed and presented to panel to reflect change in their fostering arrangement.
If you have chosen to continue fostering as a single parent, your team of social workers will check in regularly to ensure that you have all the support and resources needed to continue meeting the needs of the children in your care.
However, if you have chosen to leave the family home, you will be encouraged to either:
Or
Whilst you will no longer be responsible for the children previously in your care, this isn’t to say you can no longer see them. You can work with their social workers to discuss contact plans or informal arrangements if all parties are agreed it’s in the best interest of the children.
When a foster carer goes through a separation, our main focus stays on their ability to continue fostering. That means supporting them to meet fostering standards, and to keep the standard of care and stability that the children in their home need.
That said, we do work closely with social workers to carefully consider whether the fostering arrangement is able to continue – especially if one of the foster parents is leaving the family home. We’re aware how uncertain and unclear the situation may be for foster parents who are separating – so we handle everything sensitively and offer as much support as possible.
For more information on fostering as a single parent, or to simply understand more about what happens if foster parents divorce, get in touch with a member of our expert team today.
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.
