Bromley’s Fostering Service is responsible for recruiting, training, supporting and supervising foster carers who live in and around Bromley. Our foster carers provide care for our children and young people in their homes. They have a supervising social worker who supports them.
In Bromley we work hard to make sure that our foster carers are able to care for you to the best of their ability. Foster carers have to be very committed to gain approval at Bromley’s Fostering panel and their approval is reviewed annually. The Fostering Team and our approved foster carers work closely with the other services within Bromley to make sure that the needs of our children are the main focus.
We expect our carers to:
- Make sure that where you live is safe for you and is a comfortable place to live
- Make you a part of the family by including you in activities, holidays, celebrations etc
- Treat you with respect, be kind to you and help you understand your care journey
- Clearly explain to you what is expected of you whilst you are living there
- Work with other adults to help to offer you support, such as your social worker, parents, teachers etc.
- Support you with family contact and friends as long as this is part of your care plan
- Support you with your education
- Celebrate your special occasions with you, such as your birthday or cultural or religious festivals
- Share information with other professionals to help to keep you safe
- Support you to be healthy
- Support you with participating in activities that you are interested in
- Help you to learn independent living skills such as cooking, washing, shopping etc
The work we do
We support our children to live in the following placements:
- Connected Persons (when you remain living with a family member or someone connected to you or your family and they are assessed as your foster carer)
- Foster care (when you live with someone that is trained to look after children and young people in care)
- Special Guardianship (when you remain living with a family member or someone connected to you or your family and they are assessed to look after you until you are 18)
Making things permanent for you
The Fostering Team is part of the Permanency service which is all about making your living arrangements permanent for you. We know that our children have happier lives when they feel settled, safe and secure. Within the Permanency service we have different types of placements for our children; we work towards achieving permanency in a placement that best meets your needs.
We work to make sure that you settle into a placement that you can live in at least until you are 18. For this to happen you will need to be matched with either your current carer or another foster family who will look after you for a long time. In order to decide whether this would be the best option for you we discuss the idea at your CLA Review. We speak to both you and our carers separately so that your views can be heard and taken into consideration.
If the match is agreed then your social worker and the foster carers supervising social worker will complete a report for Fostering Panel. It is important that the idea is presented at panel so that the decision is agreed and recognised as what’s best for you. The report that is written for panel includes lots about you, your likes and dislikes, the carer’s strengths and experience, and why your social worker believes this is a good match for you. Once the report is completed it gets presented to Fostering panel for agreement. Once they agree that the long term match is what is best for you it then gets signed off and you will receive a certificate to formally acknowledge the match. You will still have a social worker to support you but will remain in the place you call home and with the people you feel care for you the best. Once you turn 18 you will be entitled to a leaving care service from our Leaving Care Team.
What happens after 18?
We support you with somewhere to live pass your 18th birthday, there are a few options once you turn 18.
Staying Put
If you are in a long term placement, either with a foster carer or a connected person’s carer, your official care status ends at 18. This doesn’t automatically mean that your time with that carer or family ends. We work with carers to offer the opportunity for you to Stay Put. Staying Put is where as a care leaver you continue to live with your foster carer after your 18th birthday. This is good news, as you can continue to live with the people you know up until the age of 21. During this time we will help you to prepare for independent living so that you are prepared for living in your own accommodation.
Supported Lodgings
Some of our older young people take the opportunity to live in a supported lodgings home. Our supported lodgings scheme supports young people leaving care by giving them accommodation in the home of a supportive adult. A supported lodgings provider does not have the same responsibility as a foster carer. You can stay in a supported lodgings home from 6 months to two years; however the length of placement will be flexible and dependent on your needs. You will be supported with developing your independent living skills in order to prepare you for living in your own accommodation.
How we support our children in residential care?
New Horizons
All young people should have a family home that they feel, happy, safe and comfortable living in. Some of our children currently live in residential homes but could really benefit from living with a foster family in a family home. This is why we’ve created a programme that supports our children to move from residential care to a foster home.
There are lots of reasons why we may place you in you in residential care; sometimes it’s simply because there are no foster placements available at the time you are placed or that you need more attention than can be given in a foster placement at that time. However we believe that there are huge benefits to our children from living in a family home long term.
Our New Horizons project allows us to support those in residential care to make a successful move to a foster family. We train our carers on this project to make sure that they can meet your needs.
Fostering Advisory Partnership
The Fostering Team is part of the Permanency service which is always looking for ways to develop in order to get better outcomes for our children and young people. In March 2018 we launched our Fostering Advisory Partnership, which is a group of fostering professionals such as foster carers and social work staff across the service. Our clear objective is to achieve better outcomes for every child involved in the care system in Bromley. We also work together to create opportunities for children and young people to meet together to build positive relationships.