Types of fostering
As a foster carer you care for someone else’s child in your family home while they cannot live with their own family. You provide a safe, warm, caring and stable home for a child as long as they need it. You could care for children and young people across a wide age range - from birth to 18 years old.
We encourage our foster carers to consider as many ranges of children’s needs and age groups as possible. We understand that you may feel more comfortable caring for a specific age group when approved. This will allow you to build up your confidence and experience, with our support and guidance.
We need carers who can offer both long and short term fostering arrangements. Some children will remain in foster care until the age of independence and need a permanent home. Others will be in foster care for a matter of months whilst decisions are made about their long term future.These are the general types of fostering that we need to find carers for:
We need planned breaks foster carers, who can look after children and young people for short periods of time, like at weekends and during school holidays. This could be for looked after children where they need a short break, or for children with disabilities.
This means looking after a child or young person until the time is right for them to move on to their permanent placement.
A shorter term foster carer also looks after children needing somewhere safe to stay for a few nights, weeks or months while we put longer term plans into place for their future.
For children and young people who need to live away from their birth family, it's not always appropriate for them to be adopted. In these circumstances we need to find them a permanent foster carer who can look after them until they’re adults. If this type of fostering is of interest to you read more about options for long-term fostering.
This is a very special type of foster care that is a route to adoption designed to give babies and young children under 2 years old a better start in life.
Concurrent carers are assessed and trained both as prospective foster carers and adopters. They act as foster carers for the child, supporting contact with birth family members while the court decides the child’s future.
More information can be found on the Adoption Lancashire & Blackpool website (external link).
Better Beginnings - fostering for adoption is similar to Best for Baby, but is for children of any age including babies. Carers are approved as both adopters and foster carers. You can find more information about Better Beginnings on the Adoption Lancashire & Blackpool website (external link).
Find out more about the different types of fostering available so we can support individual children's needs in Lancashire and help us provide the best foster carer match for children and young people. If you'd like any more information, give our friendly team a call on 0300 123 6723 or use our get in touch with us.
Fostering teenagers
Fostering older children and teens
Sibling fostering
Could you foster brothers and sisters?
Parent and child fostering
Find out more about parent and child fostering.
Foster children with additional needs
Find out more about fostering children with complex needs.
Family and friends fostering
Find out more about connected carers.
Difference between fostering and adoption
Fostering Vs adoption - what's the difference?