Private fostering frequently asked questions

Private Fostering is when you are under 16 years old and you live with an adult who looks after you instead of your mum and dad.

• The person who looks after you will not be related to you like your uncle or grandma they could be a neighbour or a friend
• Your mum or dad will have agreed that the other person can look after you and may even be paying some money to help them

Your mum and dad might not be able to look after you for different reasons and have to ask another adult to do that for them.

• You will be living in someone else's house
• The law says that a social worker has to make sure that you are well looked after where you are living
• A social worker is a person employed by the local council whose job it is to ensure that children and young people are properly cared for

Your parents or your private foster carer are responsible for telling the council that you are living in someone else's house.

Your teacher or your doctor may also do so.

They will:

• come and see you where you live to make sure that you are happy living with the Private Foster Carer
• talk to the person looking after you to see if they need any help
• They will even get in touch with your mum and dad to make sure they know you are being well looked after

• Yes
• Your mum, dad and the person looking after you will make arrangements for you and should consider what you want

• If you are unhappy where you are living you can always talk to a social worker about your worries
• The social worker will try to help to make things better by talking to the person looking after you about your worries
• If you become really unhappy with the arrangement and where you are living, the social worker will try to sort things out for you
• Don't forget though, most things go very well with private fostering

If you have any questions or need to ask anything about being a privately fostered child you can talk to your social worker.