Preparing for your Initial Home Visit – Fostering Assessment
First step to Fostering Assessment, The initial visit is a meeting in your home, conducted by a recruitment officer / or social worker. For Sunbeam, the initial visit enables us to discuss key areas specifically relating to our recruitment strategy. For you, this is an opportunity to gather information to assist in your decision to foster, it is also an opportunity to ensure that Sunbeam will meet your needs as a foster carer.
Specific areas for discussion: fostering assessment questions
What is Fostering?
You are not expected to be experts however, it would benefit you to have an understanding of fostering, who needs foster care and why.
Preparation: please do read through the information contained on our website, and note down any areas where clarification would be beneficial to you.
Language and Literacy
During the home visit, we will be looking to gage your ability to communicate effectively in English. If English is not your first language, please do not feel under pressure. The initial visit is an informal discussion.
Accommodation
Your accommodation will be assessed, with reference to Health and Safety Standards, and bedroom sharing; we will also need to know if you rent or own the property, and if you currently have lodgers, regular visitors who stay over.
Preparation: If you will need to make adjustments to sleeping arrangements to ensure you have a spare room for fostering, please have a think about this before the visit. Please also discuss any changes with the other members of your household, especially if the directly effects them.
Time Available for Fostering
Your employment – hours of work, any planned changes to your working hours and how this can meet our requirements for flexibility and availability to the fostering task.
Preparation: You may find it beneficial to consider how supportive your employer would be, if you can reduce your working hours, or request flexible working. As an agency, our preference is to have a full time foster carer in the home. Please consider any changes to the finances of the household seriously.
Views of Applicant’s Children
You as applicants must discuss your plans to foster with your own children at an age appropriate level and establish their views.
Support Network
Is there someone available in case of an emergency? Do you have family or friends for emotional and practical support?
Preparation: It would be useful if you could identify a number of people who would be able to fulfil this role.
Lifestyle – Health
Note any past or present serious medical problems or investigations. Do you smoke? It would be useful to inform of any regular ongoing medication / treatment which you or any member of the household are receiving, especially if specific consideration would need to be made.
Social and recreational activities
Do you have any experience of working with children in a voluntary or professional capacity? All information is relevant, and would only strengthen an application should you choose to make one.
Relationship
Your marital status, any extended family and support networks. We would need to know brief details of any previous or ex partners, especially where children were born into the relationship.
Preparation: The assessment will require interviews with significant members of the family, and or previous ex partners. We recognise that this may be a difficult situation and are will be happy to discuss it’s relevance in regards to the fostering task.
Pets
Pets should not pose a risk to children and feeding and sleeping arrangements should be hygienic. You will have to clarify the breed of your dog.
Age Range/Gender
Please consider the ages, gender of the children or young people you could look after. Is there a specific area you are most interested in, such as teenagers or parent and child for instance.
Discrimination & Diversity
An initial discussion will take place about your attitudes to people from other backgrounds (race; culture & language); religions; sexual orientation and disability.
Contact us for any question!
Enquiry & Application form
Please take your time to complete these documents fully. The Stage 1 checks are a crucial part of the assessment and we need to ensure that we have undertaken all the relevant checks and references to support your application and assessment to become a foster carer.
We will also look to verify your identity as part of our safer recruitment practice. It would be useful to have your identification to hand.
The following checks and references are sought following acceptance of your completed application and once a decision to proceed to Form F has been made:
- DBS checks for all household members aged 18yrs +
- Medical checks for applicants
- Local Authority check for all addresses over the last 10 years
- Current employer references
- Previous employer references (if applicable)
- Voluntary work references (if applicable)
- School references where there are children aged under 16 years within the household
- Ex-partner reference (if applicable)
- Personal and family references
Please feel free to contact us if you wish to clarify any of the above information or to have a further discussion prior to your visit.
Process of fostering assessment
The process of fostering assessment is summarised below. Click each step for information to be displayed below. You will receive full support at all stages and help with anything you are unsure of.
