South West of England

This could last for many years and into adulthood.

Action for Children Fostering will be with you all the way, supporting you emotionally, financially and with regular training. We offer 24/7, year-round support with a dedicated, qualified social worker.

Many of our foster carers give children and young people a long term home until they’re ready to live on their own.

Some young people stay with their foster family into adulthood, whether they study or work. This is what we call “staying put”. We want children to feel part of a family.

This could last for days, weeks or months.

We will support you with all the training you need and will put you in touch with other foster carers with a view to forming relationships and gaining access to the “experts”. Some foster carers specialise in short term fostering only.

We recognise that, even in the short term, attachments can be made. It may be difficult for short term foster carers to have many young people come and go from their lives in a short space of time.

We celebrate the amazing work all of our foster carers do and we will be there for you if you need some emotional support.

Our extensive, tailored training programme will provide short term carers with the skills they need to help their young people settle in and feel cared for straight away.

We have carers who provide a Short Breaks service to children and young people with disabilities.

This service aims to offer a safe, positive home-from-home experience to children in which they can try new activities, develop their independence skills and have fun in another family environment.

Caring for children and young people with a disability is an incredible thing to do. As a Short Breaks carer, you will provide a safe and fun environment for children and young people with a disability in your own home.

Each short break is for at least 24 hours, often two nights. These can be weekends, midweeks and school holidays. Some carers will do this as a full-time role. Others will do smaller chunks of short breaks.

Short Break carers offer children and young people with a disability a safe, meaningful and enjoyable experience with another family.

They also help families get a much-needed break to recharge their batteries.

Action for Children Fostering will make sure that all of our Short Breaks' carers are given the training and 24/7 support and advice they need to manage a child or young person’s disability and health needs.

Planned breaks' carers play a vital role in supporting full-time foster carers and young people.

Providing cover during holidays and weekends gives full-time carers the chance to recharge their batteries and enables children to have new experiences. You will get to know different young people, so if you're good at building relationships, this could be for you! It would involve you looking after a child or young person for a few days, usually on a regular basis.

It’s also a great way for people considering fostering to get hands-on experience before committing fully.

You would still be provided with the same high level of support, training and resources as all of our other foster carers.

Typically lasting around three months, this type of fostering involves safeguarding and supporting babies and young children whose parents are unable to safely care for them without help.

The parent(s), who can be teenagers or adults ranging from 18 to 40+, live with you during this time, and care for the child under your observation and with your help.

This is a very different role from other types of fostering and is offered in only some of our services.

You receive additional training and support. Our current specialist carers have told us it can be extremely rewarding.

We’d be happy to talk to you if you wish to explore this further.