How Long Foster Care Approval Takes in Wales

If you are considering fostering in Wales then you will no doubt be eager to find out how long it will take from initial contact with a fostering service to approval. Our experience would suggest that it will take around 6-9 months.

The Initial Enquiry

A Foster Service will normally arrange an initial home visit to your home within a few weeks of an initial contact. This is an informal visit and is designed to introduce the process of foster care, to answer any questions that you or other members of your household may have and to enable a Foster Service to form an initial view of your home and your household.

Formal Application and Checks

When you have submitted your application, various checks will start to take place. These include a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check, personal references, a medical and checks with local authorities. These checks generally are carried out at the same time but there can be delays from individual checks such as a slow reference from a friend or family member.

Skills to Foster Training

As a potential foster carer in Wales you will need to complete a preparation training course for fostering called Skills to Foster. This is a training course for all potential foster carers in Wales. Skills to Foster is a preparation training course for fostering that is usually completed within a few weekends or spread over several weekday evenings. The training is usually completed at the same time as the checks above rather than after them.

The Form F Assessment

This stage of the fostering approval process is one of the longest parts of the whole approval process. A social worker will visit you several times in order to build a detailed understanding of your life, your values and how you could care for any child(ren) placed in your home. In line with the Welsh Government’s fostering approval standards the assessment will be a thorough and evidence based one. This stage of the fostering approval process typically takes around 4-6 months from the time of your application.

Approval Panel

Your assessment is then presented at an independent panel meeting where a decision is made as to whether you are approved as a foster carer. You will generally be informed of the panel’s decision on the same day as the meeting.

After Panel

So after all of that you’ll be approved as a Foster Carer and the Foster Service will start looking for a child to place with you and your family.

There is more on Foster Care Cardiff at saferfostering.org.uk/foster-care-wales/cardiff.

Starting to foster as soon as possible will mean that your first placement can be placed as quickly as possible.