Emergency Foster Care: Be Their Safe Place Tonight

What is emergency foster care?

Emergency foster parents look after children who’ve had to leave their homes at short notice. They provide children and young people with a safe, temporary home until plans for their long-term care are established. Emergency foster care can last from a few days to a few weeks before children either return home or move to a longer-term placement.

Emergency fostering placements can happen for various unforeseen reasons, including:

Exposure to violence in the home.
Parental illness and hospital admission.
Death of a parent.
Accidents in the home.
Safeguarding issues.

Emergency foster parents support children who are scared, lonely and completely out of their comfort zone by ensuring they feel not only welcome but at home. It’s the least any child or young person deserves.

How long is emergency foster care for?

Emergency fostering is a temporary foster care placement and can be anything from a couple of hours or days to a few weeks. Often unplanned and with little to no notice, there usually isn’t time for foster parent and child introductions.

Why emergency foster care is so important

Emergencies can arise around the clock, which is why we provide an out-of-hours service to help children who need emergency foster care – this could be during the day, at night or on weekends.

Foster parents provide children and young people with a caring and nurturing environment when they need it the most. In an emergency situation, children may feel scared and alone, so a supportive foster parent is vital to helping them feel settled, safe and supported.

Who can offer emergency foster care?

To become an emergency foster parent, you must be over 21, have a spare room and have the right to live and work in the UK.

Foster parents will know little to nothing about the circumstances of the child or young person requiring emergency foster care. So, emergency foster parents must be willing to be flexible, adaptable and available at short notice.

At FCA, our training will equip you to provide emergency foster care and give you an understanding of what it may be like for a child who has had to move into care due to an emergency. You’ll also have access to our support and expertise to help you and the children in your care. You could think of us as an extended family team, there for you, 24/7 – whenever you need us, whatever your question.

How much do you get paid for emergency foster care?

At FCA, we offer a generous fostering allowance and rewards package. We do this to recognise your commitment to helping children and young people in your care feel safe, secure and at home.

On average, our foster parents receive £487 per week per child and also benefit from rewards, including:

Summer and winter £250 bonus.
Annual appreciation bonus.
Gifts and experiences to celebrate milestones you reach.
Yearly recognition events.
Access to hundreds of exclusive discounts from retailers, holiday companies and more.
Access to year-round events and activities for everyone in your family.

Use our fostering finance calculator to discover how much you could receive as an emergency foster parent.

How to become an emergency foster carer

There are five stages to becoming an emergency foster parent:

Enquiry – call us to discuss emergency fostering with our friendly team, who will arrange a home visit.
Home visit – one of our fostering advisors will visit you to discuss fostering in more detail.
Application – next, you’ll complete your fostering application.
Assessment – an assessing social worker will conduct your assessment, and you’ll also complete our pre-approval training.
Panel – you’ll then attend a meeting where a panel of fostering experts will review your application and decide on your suitability to foster.

Find out more

Other types of fostering

From helping a young person with the transition from residential care to providing a foster child with a caring family environment for several years, we have many foster parenting options available.

View fostering types

Get in touch

Ready to start fostering a child or young person? Or just want a bit more information to help you decide whether fostering is for you? All you need to do is contact us.

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