Types of fostering
Different types of foster care
Short-term placement
This is when foster carers look after a child for short periods that can range from 2 weeks to 2 years. These placements usually occur whilst the local authority is working with the birth family to help a child return home, or identify a long term placement for the child.
Long-term placement
If a child or young person is unable to return to their birth family, a long term placement is put in place with a foster carer to look after the child until they are 18 years old.
Parent and Child Fostering
Parent and Child foster carers have a parent and child/children living with them in their home, generally for a structured 12 week period. These carers support and assess vulnerable parents and help them learn how to look after their child safely. You can find out more and see a short information video about the scheme on the Fostering North London website (external link).
Supported Lodgings
Supported lodgings hosts offer young people, aged 16-21 with supported accommodation, helping them with their transition to adulthood. These young people cannot live with their own parents, but do not want, or require, the restrictions of traditional foster care. You offer the young person their own room and lend a listening ear, whilst teaching them life skills that will enable them to live independently.
Teenage Fostering
Similar to a long term placement, if a teenager is unable to return to their birth family, they are placed with a foster carer until they are 18. Fostering a teenager is one of the most rewarding and challenging roles you may ever take on, find out more about teenage fostering on the Fostering North London website (external link).
Remand Fostering
This is when foster carers look after young people aged 16,17 or 18 who are going through a difficult period in their lives. A ‘Remand Foster Carers’ role is to care for young people while they await court dates for an offence they are alleged to have committed.
The length of placements could vary but are a maximum of few months. By providing this type of specialist fostering, it offers an alternative to a young person living in custodial care before appearing in court.
These types of placements are believed to decrease the cycle of imprisonment and re-offending, helping them into a better future.
Contact
Email fosteringrecruitment@haringey.gov.uk or call us on 020 8489 3754 to find out more about fostering for Haringey.