Parent and child fostering involves the mother or father, who is experiencing difficulties, and their baby or young child being placed together in foster care.
Parent and Child Fostering, previously known as mother and baby fostering, is one of the more specialist types of fostering services offered by Excel Fostering. The aim of these parent and child foster placements is to keep families together and help both children and their mother or father grow and develop.
Parent and child foster care, previously known as mother and baby foster care, most often involves placing both a child and their mother or father into care together. As a foster carer in this situation, it is your job to help care for the child and pass on your parenting knowledge and skills to the birth parents.
So, what makes mother and baby foster placements so important?
Not everyone is a natural mother or father. Indeed, many families find themselves struggling to care for their new baby for a variety of reasons – especially, as we often find with these placements when the parent is under the age of 18 and lack parenting experience. In these situations, it’s vitally important that the family are provided help and support to ensure that their child is cared for properly and all of their needs are met.
It is also important that the parents are able to grow their parenting skills and be able to care for their children properly. Throughout parent and child placements, the parent or parents will undergo a parenting skills assessment to make sure that they are able to effectively and safely care for their child. As well as your role as fosterer to the young child, you’ll also act as a guide to the parents and provide a kind of “hands-on” parenting training.
However, parent and child fostering isn’t limited to people who need support looking after their newborn child. A parent with an older child may need support due to ill-health or disability or a newly single father may be finding it difficult to adapt to their new role. There are many situations in which a parent and child placement may be the best solution.
Despite the growing demand for this kind of care, local authorities are regularly struggling to find foster carers available to provide this kind of care. That’s why we’re always on the lookout for people who want to become registered foster carers with Excel Fostering and have the ability, and the space in their home, to provide parent and child placements.
As part of the service you’d be offering as a specialist foster carer, you would be eligible a higher than usual weekly fostering allowance. This money is there not only to help cover the costs of your new responsibility, but also as a reward for the hard work and dedication you have exhibited by taking on such a role.
This is only one of the types of foster placements that are offered by Excel Fostering. We offer a range of foster services including long-term placements, respite care, short-term placements, sibling group care and more. If you’re interested in joining the Excel Fostering team and making a real difference to children and young people in your local area, get in touch with us today. You can contact us by phone on 01253 712734 or by using our online contact form.
If you’ve got any questions or would like to find out more about fostering with Excel Fostering, fill out the form below.
An experienced fostering advisor from your local area will then be in touch.
Start the conversation today. Our team of friendly advisors are on hand to answer any foster care questions you may have. We can offer you honest and practical advice that can help you decide if becoming a foster carer is the right path for you.
