Types of fostering

Short term fostering can range from an overnight stay up to two years. Carers provide a safe and secure place to live while we try to reunite the child with their family or find a permanent family. The age range can be from babies and infants up to teenagers.                                    

Long term fostering provides young people who can't live with their birth families on a permanent basis a planned placement where they can grow up in a safe and secure environment, often over a number of years. Many children are still in contact with their birth families so a key responsibility for all long term carers is supporting this contact in partnership with Foster4Leeds.

Some children have to be moved in an emergency, often in unsociable hours. Emergency foster carers are there for children for a brief period of time until short term carers are available or until the child is able to return to their birth family.                                  

You’ll need to be able to provide a safe space in an emergency with little notice and be willing to look after children of different ages and needs.                                  

Mainstream short breaks care is providing part time care to children who are already in foster care.    

Short breaks are often needed to support the child/young person’s main placement and can include fostering children of different ages and various needs.    

This involves helping a parent, usually young themselves, to be a good parent and care for their child. A foster carers input helps decide whether the parent should be allowed to continue caring for their child or by somebody else.    

Providing emotional and practical support to young people aged 16 and over who have been in care or homeless to help them learn to live independently.    

You would be able to work full time and are paid an allowance for every young person.    

This involves looking after children who have complex needs such as autism, learning disabilities, physical impairments and health needs on a full-time basis.     

We would really like to hear from people who could accommodate a child in a wheelchair. You would need to be willing to have adaptations made to your home if necessary.    

Read about our 100 Helping Hands campaign.    

Short breaks carers for children with disabilities and complex needs provide part time care to children who remain living at home. The aim of this scheme is to support families and provide breaks to the children and their families on a regular basis (around every 4-6 weeks).    

Support carers provide planned short breaks to children living at home with their families. You'll provide the children with one to three night breaks every few weeks, so they can enjoy a safe and nurturing environment. Most support care agreements last between six and twelve months.    

If you're looking after the child of a relative or friend on a full time basis, either temporarily or permanently this is called Kinship Care.                                    

To make sure you're getting the right support, please let us know about your circumstances.You can contact our kinship care team on 0113 378 3537, Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5pm, Friday 9am to 4:30pm.                                    

Private fostering is when a child under 16 (or under 18 if disabled) is living for 28 days or more with someone who is not a close relative.

This might be a friend, a great aunt, a cousin or someone else known to the child. A private fostering arrangement may be put in place for a child if the parents work long hours, or the child is sent to the UK for education by birth parents outside of the UK.

Please contact us on 0113 222 4403 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).                   

Special guardianship means carers make most decisions to do with the child's upbringing, including where the child lives, goes to school and what medical treatment they can receive.                                    

Birth parents don't lose their parental responsibility, but they can't exercise it except in certain circumstances. Carers may apply for a Special Guardianship Order after caring for the child for 12 months or sooner with permission from the court.                                    

For more information please contact the Kinship Care Team on 0113 378 3537, Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5pm, Friday 9am to 4:30pm.