Fostering

Interim foster carers will care for children for a limited period of time, working with the social work team to either help the children return to their birth family, or to move on to a new family - either an adoptive family or permanent foster family.

Interim carers care for children at the point when they are unable to remain at home with their own families and need to be looked after and accommodated.

The expectation is that the children will stay with their foster carers until they can return home, or if this is not possible, until they move to either permanent foster carers or adopters, where they can remain until they reach adulthood.

Interim foster placements can last for a few days, weeks, months or even longer in some cases. Sometimes, if children have spent a long time with interim carers and are unable to return home, carers want to care for the child permanently.

The children range in ages from newborn babies upwards. Sometimes family groups of brothers and sisters need to be looked after and, if possible, it is preferable to try to keep sibling groups together.