Approved foster carers

Supervision
Advice by phone
Emergency Duty Team
Handbook and other guidance
Recording sheets and expenses forms
Other support

Supervision

Your supervising social worker and the child's social worker will provide you with advice and support. You may also be paired up with an experienced local foster carer, who you can phone for a more informal source of support.

 

Advice line (out of hours)

During evenings and weekends our friendly and helpful social workers are available on our out of hours advice line.

• 0300 123 6724

Monday to Friday 6pm to 11pm
Weekends and bank holidays 8am to 11pm

The advice line does not replace the emergency duty team who provide a service to cover all the periods when the office is closed, rather it is complementary to it.

You can ring the advice line to discuss any concerns you have and a fostering team worker will suggest appropriate actions. The social worker will not visit but may advise you to contact the emergency duty team if the matter is sufficiently serious and further action is necessary outside normal office hours.

Emergency duty team

• 0300 123 6722

You should contact the emergency duty team when you have any concerns or emergencies relating to a child in your care, or if a child is missing. The service is available outside of normal office hours.

Guidance, policies and procedures

• Foster Social Media Booklet PDF 797 KB
• Foster Carer Handbook Jan 2021 PDF 1.40 MB

Recording sheets and expenses forms

Frequently used fostering forms are available below for you to download and print for ease of use. Alternatively, contact your supervising social worker to request additional forms you may need or for printed versions.

• Carers Daily Record RTF 608 KB
• Carers Recording Sheet Significant Event RTF 631 KB
• Childs Inventory Form RTF 44 KB
• Memory Celebration Record Drawn RTF 362 KB
• Memory Celebration Record Written RTF 366 KB
• Mileage Travel Expenses Claim Form DOCX 28 KB
• Parent And Child Daily Recording Form RTF 923 KB
• Record Of Emergency Non Routine Medication RTF 701 KB
• Record Of Regularly Prescribed Medicine RTF 703 KB

Other support

In addition to our wide-ranging package of benefits and support to help you as a Lancashire foster carer, we have also provided a summary of additional support services that are available to you and the children in your care.

Free counselling services

Our foster carers have access to specialist counselling services paid for by us through an independent mental health company, Wellbeing Solutions. All calls are confidential and the helpline offers counselling and advice on a variety of personal or family issues. The service is open to carers and household members ages 16+ but not children in our care. If foster carers do access this service it would be helpful to let your social worker know you have contacted them to ensure we are supporting you.

Groups

Most local fostering associations have regular support groups where you can meet local carers and there are support groups and social events for children.

Child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS)

SCAYT+ (supporting carers and young people together) is part of the child and adolescent mental health service and provides a service promoting positive mental health and emotional well-being for children and young people who are looked after and adopted.

Schools

Schools are asked to give all children from care priority access to schools, which means that a child placed with you should be able to attend whichever school you think best meets their needs. You can find out more about how to apply for a school place in the school's web pages.

Schools can claim extra funding for previously looked after children called pupil premium. Find out more in the previously looked after children section.

Funded early education for two year olds

If you are looking after a child who is two years old you can take up the offer of a funded early education place.  You will need to be referred by a professional like a Children and Family Wellbeing Service (previously children's centres) worker.

30 hours funded childcare for 3 and 4 years

Some children in foster care will be entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare if the foster family meet the eligibility criteria. To find out more read our guidance for foster carers.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library

All children under 5 who are looked after can get a free reading book every month until their 5th birthday.

Register for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in Lancashire.

Education

You can get education support for your foster child from the Virtual School for Children Looked After.

Young people

The Youth Zone has information for young people about being in care like LINX, Lancashire's children in care council. LINX are a group of children and young people in care working hard to influence the way services are run. They hold regular meetings which are informal and fun for young people aged 8-17 and organise a range of activities.

The Youth Zone website includes the care leavers local offer which tells you about all the support that we have in Lancashire for care leavers aged 16-25.

Youth Zone also has more general information on issues like jobs, further education, training, health and relationships.

Special educational needs

If you think a child may have special educational needs we can help. Visit the special educational needs and disabilities - local offer to find out who you can speak to and what support is available.

National organisations 

Please note that we are not responsible for the content of external websites.

Fostering Network

The Fostering Network is the UK‘s leading charity for everyone involved in fostering. Their website provides advice and information for anyone with an interest in fostering. Members of the Fostering Network can access additional information and services through the members' area on the website.

Fosterline

Fosterline is funded by the Department for Education and provides confidential, impartial, advice and information to foster carers and those interested in fostering. Fosterline advisors respond to enquiries by telephone, email and on the fosterline interactive forum.