Assessment
This is the core part of the process towards becoming a foster carer. Your Family Placement Officer (FPO) will visit you 6-8 times over the next 4-6 months. The visits will involve all family members and will focus on your life experiences, your relationships/child care/parenting skills and what interests you have that a child could share in. We'll also assess your ability to cope with the variety of behaviours that children coming into care may express. You'll be asked to complete written tasks and be willing to talk openly about personal and sensitive information, including how you manage when under stress.
We'll also carry out face-to-face interviews with family friends, relatives, children and employees if you have worked with children. We are also required to contact previous partners where you have jointly parented children together, unless there are good reasons which preclude this.
All assessments will follow the format devised by BAAF (British Association for Adoption and Fostering). To find out more about assessment, visit the BAAF website.