Transfer from another agency
- Transferring to East Sussex Fostering Service from a fostering agency
Considering a change?
Whether you’re currently fostering or you’ve had a break and would like to come back to your fostering career, please get in touch with us. A specialist from our assessment team will get straight back to you about our simple transfer or return-to-fostering process, incentives, and payment continuity.
We'll make it easy...
We will talk everything through with you to make sure a move is right for you. We keep things confidential and give you time to consider this step.
You can transfer with a child already in placement, even if they are placed with you by another local authority. We will guarantee that you will continue at the same rate of payment for the duration of the placement. We can discuss payment for experienced and transferring foster carers in more detail when you get in touch.
Why change agencies?
You may feel that you should be getting more support; you might be experiencing long periods of time when you do not have a child placed with you, and are feeling undervalued. Maybe you have a long way to travel to access training and support groups.
As a transfer, your assessment will be prioritised - you won't have to start from scratch! We already know you have the relevant skills and experience in fostering.
Benefits of fostering with the East Sussex Fostering Service
- We always have local children waiting to be placed and offer all placements to our in-house carers first to make the best matches and ensure better outcomes for the children.
- We will only use carers from an independent fostering agency if we do not have enough foster carers of our own to match a specific placement.
- 2024/25 only 24% of placements were made with independent agency carers.
- 2026 new training packages tailored to current foster carer needs.
- Out-of-hours support so you’re never alone facing difficult situations.
- Local support groups who meet up regularly.
- Knowing that we don’t make a profit from vulnerable children who need to be looked after. We’re a local authority, not a private company. No shareholders. All of our resources support our foster carers and the young people they look after in East Sussex.
- If you have your own children, they can join our established YPWF (Young People Who Foster) group where they can enjoy events and activities which we fund throughout the year. We recognise and reward the positive impact they make to your fostered children too!
- Our first Mockingbird constellation launched April 2025 offering another layer of support to some of our foster carers. Find out more about the Mockingbird Family Model.
About the transfer process
Foster carers are always free to choose which agency they register with, but can only be registered with one agency at a time.
We have a great deal of experience in working with carers who wish to transfer from their current agency, and the process we follow is covered by the Fostering Network transfer protocol.