Who Can Foster?
Foster carers can come from all kinds of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds.

Lots of different kinds of people foster.
- You can be single
- You can be living with a partner
- You can be married or have a civil partner
- You can have your own children or step-children
- You can have no children at all
- You can own your own home or be renting
- You can be any age, over 21, as long as your health and well-being allows
- You can offer short-break fostering at weekends if you are working full-time
- You can be unemployed
- You can have been care experienced yourself
What is important is that you must be able to:
- Be warm, patient, understanding and flexible
- Be non-judgemental
- Negotiate and compromise
- Provide good quality care for children
- Care for children safely
- Support children who may have experienced neglect or abuse
- Cope with children whose behaviour may sometimes be difficult and challenging
- Understand and work with parents who have been unable to look after their child, harmed their child or failed to protect their child
- Work as part of a team which includes a child's family, social worker, education and health staff
- Be willing to learn and develop new skills