Your Home Safety Check
Smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, storage of medicines and safe access to gardens and outbuildings will be checked as part of your home safety check. You don’t need to have a big house but the house and your foster family’s home must be safe for any child who may be placed with you. That child will need their own room.
DBS Checks and References
Every adult (18 years and over) living at your home will require a DBS check as part of your assessment. The assessing social worker will contact your personal references in order to gain their perspective of you, and also your GP to discuss any health issues which may impact on your ability to care for children and young people.
Skills to Foster Training
All prospective foster carers prior to approval are required to complete the Skills to Foster program of study. This program of study will inform you of the many skills that you bring to fostering a child and also will focus on child development, the different types of attachment that a child may exhibit and some of the practicalities of fostering a child who is a looked after child. This program is delivered through a number of sessions and applicants should find out the dates of these sessions as early as possible. It is the Foster Care Swansea assessing social worker who will arrange for the prospective foster carer and their partner to attend the local Skills to Foster program sessions.
The Assessment Period
The social worker will make several visits to you and your family over a period of approximately four to six months. These visits will enable the social worker to gather more information about you, your past, your relationships, why you wish to become a foster carer and what support you have from family and friends. It is also your opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification on any part of the process. Assessments in Wales are undertaken within the framework of the national foster care standards for Wales.
The Fostering Panel
Once your report has been completed it will be presented at an independent fostering panel. They will then make a recommendation to the fostering service regarding your suitability to become a foster carer. For Foster Care Swansea, see https://saferfostering.org.uk/foster-care-wales/swansea/.
By understanding the approval process prior to it commencing you can reduce any unexpected surprises along the Foster Care Swansea approval process.
How DBS checks work
A Disclosure and Barring Service check is a criminal record check that replaced the CRB check in 2013. It gives reassurance that a person is of good character and is unlikely to pose a risk to the people in their care.
Fostering is one of many roles where it applies. Anyone working with children or vulnerable adults, including staff in schools, hospitals and care homes, childminders, carers and medical professionals, will be checked, and so will anyone hoping to foster or adopt. Professions where honesty is central, such as solicitors, barristers, judges and accountants, also require one, as do roles with access to controlled substances.
An individual cannot request a check on themselves. It is always requested by an organisation, often through a specialist service. The applicant completes the form accurately and honestly and provides documents that prove their identity, and the organisation then receives the information it needs.