Checklist

1) Age and health

Ideally you need to be aged 21 years or over and fit and healthy enough to be active and available to children and young people.

Are you over the age of 21?

Yes No

2) Your home

As long as one bedroom is available it does not matter whether your home is rented or owned. Only a baby up to 18 months old may share an adult carer's bedroom. Your home has to meet national standards for hygiene, play and homework space.

Do you have a spare room?

Yes No

3) Foster children's ages and needs

Our carers look after children of all ages from 0 to 18. Many of the children have had very difficult experiences and some have difficulty living in a family. We are also particularly interested in hearing from people who would like to offer a home to children with disabilities, groups of brothers/sisters and parents with a child.

Would you consider fostering a wide range of children?

Yes No

4) Financial stability

Five Rivers pays its carers a very competitive allowance when children live with them. Some people choose to give up paid work so they can foster. If you do this you will need to satisfy us, and yourself, that you can manage on state benefits or support yourself at those times when a fostering allowance may not be payable. This is particularly important for sole earners.

Would you be able to show you are financially stable?

Yes No

5) English and other languages

Our carers look after children of many ethnic backgrounds and nationalities. We are keen to recruit people who understand different cultures and speak languages other than English. However, it is important that our carers can speak, read and write English to a competent level to be able to communicate with children, their families and professionals.

Can you speak, read and write English to a competent level?

Yes No

6) Assessment

Everybody who applies to foster has to be assessed by a qualified social worker in order to understand what would make you a suitable person to care for somebody else's child. A lot of questions are asked, a report is written and an independent panel will make the decision either to approve you or not. We expect to complete assessments in 15 weeks.

Are you available over the next 4-6 months to be assessed?

Yes No

7) Medical

Foster carers come from all walks of life and, like anyone else, can have health issues. We expect to openly discuss these matters and health checks will be carried out. If you have any questions regarding your suitability due to your health please contact us for a discussion. In most cases ongoing health matters do not prevent people from fostering.

As part of the assessment would you undertake a medical if required?

Yes No

8) References

Looking after other people's children is a big responsibility. We need to learn as much as we can about you and the skills and knowledge that you have to care for children. We will speak with referees who have known you for a good period of time (including a family member).

Can you provide 3 personal references when requested?

Yes No

9) Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and other checks

The following people will be asked to apply for a CRB check:

   • All household members aged 16 years and over

   • Relatives or friends who regularly visit your house and are likely to have unsupervised contact with any foster child.

All past offences and cautions including any motoring offences must be declared. No offences are “spent” when considering your suitability to foster. If you have been convicted or cautioned for an offence, we may not consider you suitable depending on the offence and the length of time since it happened. Some offences will automatically bar you from looking after children.

We will carry out checks on you with Children's and Adult's Services. If you have worked for another fostering agency in the past we will contact them too.

If you have lived outside the UK for a continuous period of three months as an adult, you will also need to apply for a Certificate of Good Conduct from that country which you must pay for.

Do you understand CRB and other checks will be made?

Yes No