Short breaks, bridging and emergency fostering

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Short breaks foster care

Could you provide a child with a one-off or regular break?

Short breaks are provided to give parents, or other foster carers some respite or offer additional support.

As a short breaks carer, you might look after children for regular weekends, a week in the school holidays, or the occasional 'one-off'. It’s a way of being able to foster even if you work full-time or have other commitments. 

Bridging foster carer

Could you care for a child for a few days or weeks?

Sometimes children are moving to live with carers who cannot accommodate them straight away. We need to find somewhere else for their care for a set time. The child or children may then move on to adoption, or long-term foster care elsewhere.

Emergency placements

Could you care for a child in an emergency?

We have a rota of foster carers who have a spare room available for a child at short notice, with contact sometimes out of office hours. You would need to have some experience as a foster carer or relevant transferrable skills before offering to join the rota.

It’s making children feel part of a family. If we can give them good memories or a feeling of love, that’s what goes with them.

Anja – foster carer

How to become a foster carer