What are the different types of placement?

This type of fostering involves caring for children or young people who need somewhere safe to stay immediately, usually for a few nights. This can often happen at very short notice.

Short term foster carers provide a temporary place to stay until the child can return home to their own family, move into a longer-term fostering placement. This type of placement can last for a few weeks or months, sometimes longer.

When a child cannot return home, decisions have to be made to find a long term family for them. For some children, such as those who are older or in regular contact with their birth family, long term foster care may be a preferred option.

Children and young people in long term foster care continue to be a legal part of their own family (even if they have only a limited amount of contact with them), but live with long term foster carers until they reach adulthood and they are ready to live independently.

Respite involves children living with foster carers having short stays with another foster family to give their family/main carers a break. At FFI, this usually involves looking after a child or young person who is placed with FFI foster carers for a weekend, one week or two weeks.

Parent and Child placements are provided to a mother and/or father and their child/ren, where foster carers can provide support and guidance to the parent(s) and help them develop parenting skills.

Additional training is provided for foster carers providing Parent and Child placements. Some Parent and Child carers work as part of a professional team to undertake a formal assessment of the parenting ability of the mother and/or father.

Remand foster carers look after young people who are remanded by the Courts into public care. These placements are usually short term and require the carer to work closely with the youth justice/offending teams.

Separated Children Seeking Asylum refers to a child or young person who is under 18 years of age, separated from parents/family, applying for asylum.

These children and young people have often travelled long distances (from countries such as Africa, Afghanistan and Iran), may not speak English and can be frightened and confused.

Foster carers are needed in most areas in Ireland to provide a safe, stable and supportive home for Separated Children Seeking Asylum. While there is a need for carers who reflect the culture and religious background of the children and young people, we recognise that often this is not possible. FFI will therefore provide specific training to all carers to assist with meeting the cultural, religious and identity needs of this group of children and young people, in addition to comprehensive information and the support of a dedicated Social Worker.

There are many disabled children and young people in Ireland who need a fostering family. This can include children with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, sensory impairments or a combination of these.

We maintain an ongoing commitment to ensure that all of our placements are matched to ensure best fit between the foster carer and the needs of the looked after child or young person in our care.

Do you already have children in your household? Have you considered how fostering may affect birth children?