Sometimes a parent, who is often a young person, find themselves in a situation where they need extra support and guidance in a home setting. In many cases, they may not have experienced great parenting in their own lives and may have been in care themselves, so haven't learnt the skills that they need to be great parents.
These placements aim to keep families together, halting potential safeguarding and future care situations. Our specialist team of foster carers provide strong parental experience and guidance for young people and their babies.
Our pre-birth placements provide a secure and stable base that enables young people to prepare for the birth of their baby. These placements specialise in teaching parenting and independent living skills alongside providing an understanding of their and their baby’s needs.
Usually, a court decides that a new parent should go into a parent and child placement and, as a result, they require a high level of supervision and recording which contributes to a Local Authority parenting assessment.
Parent and Child Assessments usually last for around 12 weeks and require you to assess and report on the parent’s ability to care for their child.
Fostering a young family can be challenging as well as rewarding, so you’ll receive specialist training from us as well as support throughout your time as a parent and child foster carer.
The training covers everything relating to caring for and safeguarding a young family, including how parents form relationships with their children.
You’ll also receive frequent visits from your Supervising Social Worker and receive 4 hours of additional support a week from our dedicated Support workers.
There has been a significant rise in the number of parent and child placements over recent years. It is thought funding cuts for local authorities are largely behind the increase in foster placements.
Combined with the limited awareness of parent and child foster care, means there is currently a large gap in the number of carers available to meet the demand.
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