Have you a desire to care for children in need? Have you not been blessed with your own children and want to make a different in a child’s life in the future? The good news is that you may be able to become a foster carer, helping children who need a loving and caring home, whether it’s for one night, a week, a year or even more.
There are more than seventy thousand children throughout the United Kingdom who are in care, each one of them needs a loving home and to be accepted into a family environment where they can feel loved and nurtured and given the ability to live a normal childhood moving forward.
There are some criteria that must be met in order to become a foster carer in the United Kingdom. The first is your age. Anyone who wants to care for children in a fostering environment must be over twenty five years of age. By this age you are mature enough to manage the challenges a foster child may pose on you and your family. There is no maximum age, which makes it possible for those who have waited too long to have their own child or who are unable to have children to take in a child and care for them as their own.
Another criteria that must be met is that you must be in good health. A child cannot be placed in your care if you are suffering from a life threatening illness, which may result in the child finding themselves moved to another home due to you having to be hospitalised. These children have often been through things that they should not have to experience in their younger years, so sending them from one home to another is going to be too disruptive for them and can lead to behavioural problems moving forward.
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The good news is that if you are over twenty five and in good health, then you can apply to become a foster carer. There is no other requirements, you do not have to be married or in a committed relationship, you can be single, you can be living together and you can be married. The most important thing is that you have the time and dedication to provide love and support to a child that has entered the system and needs somewhere safe to live.
The one thing you will have to prove when you want to become a foster carer is that you have a spare room that is comfortable and can accommodate a child of a certain age. You may choose you want to care for babies, toddlers or even older children. You may want to provide a loving home to children of any age, the one thing these children will need is their own room, their own safe haven where they can feel comfortable at all times.
The next thing you will need is parenting skills. Now if you haven’t had the opportunity of having your own children, you don’t have to worry. Maybe you used to babysit your younger brothers and sisters, maybe you regularly care of your nieces and nephews, this will all count in your favour as having parenting skills that you can use to provide a loving home environment for a child.
When taking a child into your home full-time, as a foster carer you must be based at home. This is very important as they cannot place a child with a couple whose jobs have them both on the road for extended periods, leaving the child with a nanny.
The final thing you will need to become a foster carer in the United Kingdom is to be committed to ongoing training Dn working alongside the agency to ensure the child’s best interests at all times.
