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Fostering and Relationship Status – Everything You Need to Know

Monday 30 January 2017

Fostering and Relationship Status – Everything You Need to Know

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Fostering and Relationship Status – Everything You Need to Know

People thinking about becoming a foster carer often have questions regarding their relationship status. This is largely because at one time, fostering agencies only considered married applicants. However, foster care has come a long way over the years and the rules regarding who can apply have changed dramatically.

These days, what really matters is that you are able to provide a secure, loving and safe home for the children who need it most. Your relationship status, gender, sexual preference, and age shouldn’t affect your approval.

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Here, we’ll look at how relationships factor into the foster care application process and hopefully clear up any questions you may have.

How does your relationship status affect your approval?

For the most part, relationship status doesn’t affect your chances of becoming a foster carer. The only exception to this might be if you are in a very new relationship.

Obviously, we put the welfare of the child first, and a huge part of that is being certain that they are being placed into a stable and loving environment. For this reason, we do recommend giving any new relationship at least a year before applying. However, that said, we do look at each application on a case-by-case basis, so this still may not necessarily affect your application.

Do other relationship factors influence the application?

It really doesn’t matter whether you’re single, married, or in a same sex relationship. All that factors into our decision is whether you are fit and able to provide the level of care and love required for a child.

Change in relationship status

Life is unpredictable, and we know that your relationship status can change after you become a foster parent. It could be that you were single when you were accepted, but you’ve met someone new. Or, it could be you were married when you were accepted but you are now planning to divorce. Situations such as these can have a significant impact on the child in your care. For this reason, if there are changes in your relationship status, an assessment may be carried out to determine its impact.

We always put the interests of the children our care first and foremost, but we also pride ourselves on the support we offer to our carers too. So the important thing is to let us know right away if there are any changes in your relationship status.

Simply put, we encourage anyone to speak to us if they are interested in fostering, regardless of their relationship status.

If you are interested in becoming a foster carer, and want to learn more, give us a call today on 01233 8845 523.

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