Fostering Agencies
Independent fostering agencies provide a specialist service to local authorities.
Because of demands placed on the resources of local authorities, they are unable to offer foster carers to all children in their care.
Independent foster agencies offer a solution to this shortfall, providing various types of placements and offering high levels of support and training for their foster carers.
Many of them run fee-paying schemes and may employ foster carers in the same way as any other business.
Local authorities approach IFAs if they cannot find a suitable family for a child from their own pool of foster
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There is a choice of over 700 fostering agencies. The agency you choose is recommended to be within a fifty miles radius of your home which will enable you to be easily supported.
It is best to choose an agency that is located near you. Sometimes, an agency might also consider arranging for a freelance assessor to assess you for fostering on their behalf.
Bear in mind that there can be a lot of travelling involved in the fostering process, from your initial meeting with an agency right through to introductions with a child.
In our experience, Local Authorities take six months and Independent Fostering Agencies take an average of four months to complete the foster carer assessment. However Local Authorities are catching up.
Fostering's social workers have years of experience finding the right fostering agency for people interested in fostering and has acted on many people's behalf to help them find the most suitable fostering agency.
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