Fostering & your family

When considering fostering as a career option, the impact on your own family (or plans to have a family of your own) is quite rightly a huge part of that decision-making process.

How would your children react to a new person in the house?

How will you manage your routines to include another child/children?

Are they prepared to share you with another young person?
How will you manage to foster with a young family?

No two fostering journeys are the same, as no two children are the same. Once you are approved to become a foster parent we will take careful consideration of any children we ‘match’ with you and place in your home.


Everyone in your home (even your pets) is a part of the journey. For birth children, fostering can be a valuable learning experience as they form strong bonds and lifelong friendships with their new family members. It can be a sad time for them when a placement ends, but it doesn’t mean the end of the relationship.


Families often keep in touch with their foster children long after their placement ends.

Scale up!

Many people who have thought about becoming foster carers worry about the uncertainty of how long a child will stay with them. Whilst very little in foster care is certain, something we can do is scale families into the role through ‘Short-break’ fostering.

Formerly, ‘Respite’ care this form of care is vital for families and the children in their care. We’ll partner our foster families with short-break specialists who get to know eachother closely so that children have familiar faces when carers need a well-deserved break.

This role provides some certainty to carers who may need more confidence or flexbility in their role.

If you would like to get in touch and become a short break carer with The CFT, get in touch!

Resources, support & events

Birth children are critical to the fostering experience, their participation cannot be underestimated. Given this, we include them in everything we do at The CFT – ensuring they’re prepared and their relationships develop strong ties goes a long way to making a successful foster family.


We put on events specifically for birth children to meet other young people with similar experiences, this also provides an opportunity for us as an organisation to understand how they are responding to the new family member/s, making sure we are doing everything we can to make them comfortable – learning all the time what we can do to make families a success.

Make an enquiry!

Become a foster carer

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Fostering-Network
Your interview - What you need to know.
If you’ve been invited to an interview, it’s your chance to meet us, tell us about yourself, and take a step towards building your incredible career.
Your interview is your opportunity to learn more about us.
So come prepared with your questions. Plus its our opportunity to get to know you, understand your motivation to work in this sector and get a good understanding of your experience and background.
The first step.
Is either a face to face interview carried out in person or via TEAMS. If you’re successful, the next stage is a more formal interview with at least two members of our team. At least one of the interview panel will have been trained in the NSPCC safer recruitment standards.
You might be invited for a second interview.
Or we might ask you to prepare a presentation or other sample of work. Think about what the role requires and prepare to show you’re a great fit.
We’ll carry out a criminal record check.
Bring the necessary identity documents to your formal interview. The address on the documents should match the address on your application form. You’ll need proof of your right to work in the UK, you will be provided with a list of approved identification documents in line with The Disclosure and Barring Service and proof of your address.
Certificates!
Remember to bring any qualification certificates that are required for the role.
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Be a successful candidate!
Read through our hints and tips and give yourself the best chance at a career with The CFT.
Do your research!
Look at our website and check that you match our outlook and culture.
Apply via our application form.
We require a fully completed application form, we’ll ask for your full employment history from age 16, include all job titles, employment dates and your reason for leaving – and if there are any gaps, please tell us why.
We’ll need contact details of referees.
Referee's should be people you’ve worked with during the last three years. One should be your most recent employer. We’ll also need a reference from any employer where you’ve worked directly with children and young people and a personal referee.
We’ll carry out a criminal record check.
If you’ve lived abroad within the last ten years, you might also be asked to complete an overseas criminal record check.
If your application is successful.
There may be some more pre-employment checks specific to the role, but a member of our HR Team will be in touch to talk you through what’s needed.
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