Preparing for a new foster care placement can be daunting and each placement can be a different experience from previous ones. How you prepare will depend on a range of factors including the type of care that you could be providing for a young person in need.
If you’re a long-term carer, you might have more time to prepare for a young person to come into your care. However, if you provide emergency care, you might have as little as a few hours’ notice before someone comes to stay with you.
In this guide, we share our biggest tips to help you prepare for a new placement.
Preparing for a foster care placement as a first-time or primary carer
When you’re a first-time or primary foster carer, it’s important to be mentally and physically prepared for the journey that lies ahead. If you’ve reached this stage in your caring journey, you’d have completed all your relevant foster care training. Although your practitioner and agency will have already briefed you on what you need to know about the process and the young person/ people coming into your care, here are some questions that you might want to ask, especially if they haven’t already been answered:
- Does the child have a visitation schedule for supervised visits with their biological parents?
- Does the child display any behaviours that may affect their own safety or the safety of those in my home?
- Has the child had any other placements? If so, what can I do to make sure they have a positive experience in my care?
- Does the child have a Cultural Care plan?
- Does the child require any support with their physical, social, behavioural or developmental needs?
- Does the child have any medical needs or considerations that I should know of?
If there are any other questions or concerns that you would like to have answered before a young person comes into your care, make sure to ask your foster care practitioner. While they may not always have all the answers to your questions, they’ll do their best to find out.
There are plenty of other ways to prepare yourself, your home and other family members to ensure the experience is as safe and welcoming as possible for the foster child. This may include:
Creating a cosy room for them
This depends on their age and what other information you have about them. However, you may want to make their room comforting and age appropriate. Some young people might appreciate night lights and toys.
Store hazardous materials out of reach
Medications, cleaning supplies and other hazardous materials should be locked away and placed out of reach of children. Additionally, if you have any sentimental or breakable items around the home, make sure to keep them out of the reach of children (in case they get accidentally damaged).
Prepare your family
Is your family prepared to welcome a new person to your household?
It’s important that everyone knows what is happening and they aren’t surprised when they return to find a new person in their home.
Make sure that you have a support network on standby
Whether it’s friends, family or other carers in your network, it helps to have someone who is on your side on standby.
Have a supply of toys and entertainment
Make sure that you have some toys or means of entertainment available for children of all different ages and interests. This may include teddy bears, dolls, card games, balls, craft sets, Lego, instruments, Play Doh, Nintendo’s, puzzles, game stations etc.
You might also consider having a range of clothes, toiletries, stationery, snacks and storage boxes available as some children come into care with very little possessions.
Be prepared for things to not go as planned
It’s good to be prepared. Though, sometimes things don’t play out as you expect. In these instances, it’s important to remember that you’ll have support and resources around you to help you navigate alternate pathways to success.
Get your home clean and tidy
This will help give yourself, family and that special new person a fresh new start.
Preparing for a foster care placement as an emergency carer
With an emergency placement, you might not have as much time to prepare for an emergency placement as you would with a long-term one. Despite this, there are still some things that you can do to make your home accommodating for a young person.
For instance, it helps to have a clean and tidy bedroom ready. This might include a supply of toys, entertainment and toiletries (relevant for a range of age groups) on hand.
With each new placement, it’s important to gather as much information about them as you can. With emergency placements, it’s not uncommon for the agency to have very little information about them. However, they will provide you with information as it comes to hand.
Whether you’re welcoming a child into your home on an emergency or longer-term basis, your practitioner and agency will support and guide you throughout the process. You can also access support outside of business hours.
More information about foster care
To learn more about becoming a foster carer, please visit our resource library. Here, you can access more information about how to talk to your family about caring for a child in need, what the role of a foster care entails, training information and more.