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What Is Parent and Child Foster Care?

Monday 13 February 2017

What Is Parent and Child Foster Care?

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What Is Parent and Child Foster Care?

There are many types of foster care that you can be approved to provide, and some are more well-known than others. Here we talk more about one of the lesser known types of fostering which is parent and child foster care.

Parent and child foster care involves you as the carer helping a parent to care for their child, passing over your parenting skills and helping them to develop theirs.

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These types of placements are on the rise, yet there’s a dramatic shortage of carers available to accommodate the demand. Below you’ll discover more about parent and child foster care and why we need your help to provide this valuable service.

Understanding parent and child placements

Sometimes, we all need a little help when it comes to raising a child. As rewarding as it is, it’s by far one of the toughest jobs in the world. For many reasons, some parents may need a little helping hand to help bring their child up as best they can.

The most common type of parent and child placements involve first-time mothers under the age of 18. Becoming a parent for the first time is frightening at any age, but for a young person it can be terrifying. Authorities often need to make sure the young mother has the necessary skills and support to raise her child herself. This is especially true for young mothers without their own parental support system, who have perhaps not received the best parenting themselves.

Rather than placing the parent and child in a residential placement, foster care is often seen as a better alternative. It is the role of the foster carer to support the parent and child, while sometimes also assessing the parent’s abilities.

Of course, not all placements will involve young mothers and babies. A single parent with an older child may be struggling due to health issues or disabilities, or a father may be struggling to adjust as a newly single parent. As with all types of foster care, this is a diverse role and includes parents and children from a variety of backgrounds.

More carers are desperately needed

There has been a significant rise in the number of parent and child placements over the past few years. It is thought that cuts in funding for local authorities are largely behind the increase in foster placements.

Combined with the limited awareness of parent and child foster care, means there is currently a large gap in the number of carers available to meet the demand.

At Fostering Solutions we provide full training and support, specifically in parent and child fostering, so you are fully prepared for what each placement may bring. We are by your side every step of the way to guide and support you, so you need never feel alone. You can read more about parent and child fostering here.

If you would like to make a real difference, and you feel you have what it takes to support parents and their children, call us today on 01204 895 645.

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