Fostering is about opening your heart and home to a child or young person who needs stability, care, and encouragement. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being present.
Foster carers come from all walks of life, and each brings something unique to the role. Whether you're 24 or 86, single or partnered, renting or owning your home, what matters most is your ability to listen, support, and nurture.
Fostering can look like:
- Helping a child feel safe enough to sleep through the night.
- Supporting a teenager to believe in their future.
- Celebrating small wins, like a good day at school or a new friendship.
- Being a steady presence during uncertain times.
Every fostering journey is different, but all are rooted in compassion, resilience, and hope.
Fostering
General fostering
Care short term under reunification or give a child a stable, long-term home
Parent and child
Support parents and babies during parenting assessments
Short breaks
Give children with additional needs short stays and families vital respite
Young refugees
Care for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children needing safety and support
Foster to adopt
Fostering and adoption: supporting children when they need it most
Kinship
Special guardianship order
Guardians grow with the child in care
Private fostering
When you arrange for your child to be looked after by someone else, or you are looking after somebody else's child
Helping Hands
Independent Visitor Service (IVS)
Volunteer to be the difference
Fostering friendly
Helping hand for foster families
Community partnerships
Fostering takes a community
Find the right path to support a child
Whether you're ready to open your home as a foster carer, support a child you already know through kinship care, or just want to learn more about the different ways to help—there’s a route for you.