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Single foster parents
The UK counts approximately every year 30.000 children entering the foster care system, according to fostering statistics. The role of single foster parents is the same as any other foster parent: providing the sense of normality that these children have lost.
Becoming a foster parent is a meaningful commitment that needs to fit within your lifestyle. So you may rightly wonder whether you are suited for fostering as a single foster parent. There is more than one type of fostering arrangement, and therefore, there may be an option for single foster parents to support children.
Indeed, Match Foster Care frequently requires the services of single foster parents. Here is everything you need to know about becoming a single foster parent.
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What are single foster parents?
As there are different types of fostering available, designed to meet the needs of children and adapt to their situations, there can be more than one type of foster parent. As such, if the thought of being a single foster parent worries you, be assured that there is more to fostering than meets the eye.
Single-parent fostering is a common type of fostering. Short-term fostering arrangements may be best suited to single foster parents. This means the child will stay with you for a maximum of two years.
As a single foster parent, you can care for children for any amount of time within this limit. This could be for a night, a few weeks, several months and up to two full years. As every situation is unique, it is something that we, at Match Foster Care, ensure we can assess along with your availability to ensure the best possible match.
How to become a single foster parent?
Our assessment process revolves heavily around the relationship between the child and the single foster parent. That’s why we take the time to understand your situation and address all your queries when you apply.
You are never alone as a single foster parent. You can benefit from specialist training served by our local multidisciplinary experts in the West Midlands. This is instrumental to becoming a single foster parent.
Single foster parents also receive an allowance per child and for the duration of the foster service. This allowance is determined also by the child’s needs and age. You can find out more via our fostering allowance calculator.
Single foster parents can make a positive difference in the life of foster children and help them to rediscover their trust in adults and their sense of self.
Frequently Asked Questions
Single foster parents have a fostering career which is just as rewarded as any other foster parent. As a foster carer, your role is to give a child a stable, caring, and safe environment allowing them to grow and develop their identity. Children in foster care especially need a sense of balance at a time when things can be confusing. Young people enter the foster system when they have no direct family who can provide care. Single foster parents will provide the balance, structure, and stability they need.
Besides, your focus is to help them maintain a routine, such as attending school, keeping in touch with their birth family and friends whenever available, and providing healthy life habits. Every child has unique needs, and at Match Foster Care, we ensure our assessment process for becoming a single foster parent takes account of your career and availability.
Children can enter foster care for a variety of reasons, which is why we provide temporary and long-term fostering arrangements. Both types of fostering are needed to recreate the lost balance and stability during a complicated situation.
These children come because there is a crisis happening in their birth family which affects the ability of their guardian to look after them, the birth parents are incapacitated, they are at risk in their birth family, or they are preparing for long-term care.
The core principle of fostering, for all foster parents, remains the same. Children require foster care and a safe environment until they can go back to their birth family or move on to the next stage of their life, which can be adoption or leaving the fostering system after 18. During this time, the single foster parents play a crucial role in helping the fostered child build a sense of identity. This will include showing respect towards their friendship, religion, hobbies, gender, race, and offering them the space they need to safely explore their identity.
Areas We Cover
Match Foster Care covers all over the West Midlands, including, Birmingham, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Dudley, Sandwell, Herefordshire, Telford, Wolverhampton, Shropshire, Walsall, Warwickshire, Stoke, Solihull, Coventry and Gloucestershire.
We have two offices: one in Droitwich and one in Stoke but our staff are located across the whole region to provide local support when you most need it.
Droitwich Office
Severn House, 30 – 32 Ombersley Street West, Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire,
WR9 8QZ
Stoke-on-Trent Office
3-5 Vale Street, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire,
ST4 7LR
