Many of our foster carers choose to foster alongside their own family. Whether they’re still young children, growing teenagers or have left home, they are all part of the foster family. Deciding whether to foster is a big decision that will affect everyone in the household so you’ll want to make sure everyone understands the impact. As you’ll have heard from our foster carers in the video, fostering can be a hugely positive addition to your lives.

Fostering with children at home

If you have young children at home, you’ll need to make sure they understand that they’ll have to share their toys, space and time. They’ll also have to share you, especially when a child arrives and you need to spend time settling them in. But you can make sure that you also set aside special time just for them. If you decide to apply, we would talk about with you about what age range would work alongside your own children.

Fostering has given our foster carers’ own children an empathy and understanding that they otherwise may not have had. Some of them have made great friends through our Foster Squad group, a support group especially for foster siblings aged 7-18. It’s a great community who meet up to have all sorts of fun and hang out with other children who foster and have similar experiences.

If you haven’t already, read our story from Isabelle, who has been fostering with her family since she was 8 years old.

Fostering with adult children

Your adult children may not live at home anymore but they are still a big part of your family, and are likely to be frequent visitors to your home. You may be considering using their bedroom as a room for a foster child so make sure they are aware of this, and that it might take more forward-planning if they would like to spend the night at home. It is a positive experience for our children in care to get involved with wider family gatherings so your adult children will be instrumental in supporting them and you too!

Fostering if you haven’t had children

You don’t need to have had your own children if you would like to foster. But we would recommend that you get childcare experience whether it’s with friends and family or professionally, before you enquire with us. You can get in touch to find out the best way to do this.

…This is fostering.

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Our goal is to find more foster carers for our children and young people in Reading. How can you help? 

  • If you’d like to find out more about fostering and become a foster carer yourself, get in touch with us. Our friendly fostering team are at the other end of the line on 0118 469 3020. You can also enquire and you’ll get a call back.
  • If you’re not able to foster yourself but would like to help, you can help us spread the word.
    • Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and share our posts
    • Tell someone if you think they’d be a great foster carer! This can be a family member, friend or colleague.
    • Invite someone to one of our information events.