Looked After Children

Answer: When you go to stay with a foster family, your foster carers will treat you as part of the family. They are there to look after you, to listen to you and to keep you safe.

All sorts of people become foster carers and every foster family is different. There may be one or two carers. They may have their own children or foster other children. The foster carer may be a kinship carer - that is a member of your own family who has been approved by Childrens Services to look after you.

Foster carers get some money from Childrens Services. This is to pay for your clothes, food, outings, activities and pocket money. This is called a ‘fostering allowance’. Foster carers also have their own social worker who supports them to do their job properly.

Your Social Worker will work hard to find you a foster family that they think is right for you. This is very important, especially if you are going to stay there for a long time.

Your foster family should have a similar ethnic and cultural background to you. This means that they should speak the same language, and have the same religious beliefs and celebrations as you. If this is not possible, then your social worker will try to find a family that understands your background and culture.

If possible, you will meet your foster family before you go to live there. It is probably going to feel very strange, at first, living with a different family. All families have different ways of doing things and different rules. Your foster carers and social worker will talk to you about the rules and write some of this down for you in a placement information record which is explained later. As you spend more time with your foster family you will begin to settle in and get used to how things works.