Foster to Foster is the process of moving from one fostering agency to another. Understanding each stage helps you compare support, training and practical arrangements before choosing an agency that suits your family’s needs.
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A welcoming foster family gives a child more than a place to stay: it provides safety, predictable routines and adults who listen. These everyday experiences can help a young person feel respected and better able to manage changes in their life.
Foster carers offer practical care alongside encouragement. They may support school attendance, health appointments, hobbies, contact with birth family and preparation for greater independence. The approach is tailored to the child’s age, needs and existing relationships, rather than treating every placement alike.
For adults considering fostering, it can bring purpose. It involves patience, teamwork and learning, with guidance from fostering professionals. The difference lies in consistent actions: keeping promises, setting fair boundaries and helping a child recognise their strengths.
Fostering can encourage family members to explain expectations, listen carefully and discuss concerns before they become problems. Regular conversations help everyone understand how a child is settling in and what support may be needed.
As carers become more familiar with routines, meetings and care plans, they can feel more confident contributing to decisions about a child’s wellbeing. Confidence develops through preparation, reflection and learning from the professionals around them.
A fostering household often needs agreed responsibilities and consistent routines. Family members can develop skills in planning, managing change and working together, while carers learn how to balance fostering duties with existing commitments.
Trust develops gradually when adults follow through on agreed plans, respond calmly and respect a child’s boundaries. These steady interactions can help carers understand individual communication styles and support relationships within the household.
Fostering can help families consider how identity, culture, previous experiences and family connections affect a child’s needs. This broader perspective supports more thoughtful conversations and helps relatives avoid making assumptions about behaviour.
Training and regular reflection give carers opportunities to review what is working and identify where their approach may need to change. Sharing learning with the household can help family members respond more consistently to a child’s needs.
Foster to foster means transferring your fostering approval from one agency to another, rather than starting your fostering journey from the beginning. Carers may consider this when their current agency no longer meets their needs, their circumstances change, or they believe another agency offers a better fit for their household.
The process usually begins with an enquiry to the prospective agency, followed by discussions about your approval, fostering history, current placements and reasons for moving. Information is shared between agencies and, where a child is placed with you, the child’s placing local authority is involved. The relevant transfer arrangements must be followed so that safeguarding, records and continuity of care are properly considered.
Before deciding, ask how the new agency would manage your assessment records, supervising social worker, training plan, allowance arrangements and any current placement. You should also understand any notice requirements and whether additional assessment or training is needed. A suitable agency will explain these points clearly and help you make an informed decision without treating the transfer as a routine administrative change.
Foster to foster is the transfer of approval from one fostering agency to another, involving discussions, shared records, planning and safeguarding steps, rather than restarting assessment again.
Typically, records include your assessment, approval, review documents, training history, supervision notes, placement information, health details, safeguarding records and complaints history. Consent and secure information-sharing arrangements protect confidentiality throughout transfer.
Yes, but the child’s placing local authority, current agency and proposed agency must coordinate the transfer. Safeguarding, stability, records, notice requirements and your continuing approval need careful planning throughout.
Usually, your supervising social worker will change because the receiving agency appoints its own practitioner. Agree handover arrangements, current information, visits and support responsibilities before the transfer formally completes.
Yes, your fostering allowance may change because agencies set their payment structures and rates. Compare the proposed terms carefully, including fees, deductions, expenses and arrangements for existing placements before transferring.
Foster to foster can be relevant at different points in a carer’s journey, from reviewing whether current arrangements remain suitable to preparing for a planned move. The situations below highlight circumstances that may prompt further, careful consideration.
A change in work, family responsibilities, health, living arrangements or the ages of children in your household may affect the type of fostering support you need. A different agency may have arrangements that are more suitable for your revised circumstances.
Your experience may develop in a direction that requires more specific advice, such as support with teenagers, sibling groups, disability or complex behaviour. When comparing agencies, ask whether their training and professional expertise match the placements you are considering.
Regular supervision should give you a clear opportunity to review placements, discuss concerns and plan next steps. If the current structure, frequency or style of supervision is not helping you fulfil your role, transferring may be worth exploring.
Some carers consider moving when they want a clearer training pathway or further preparation for the needs they expect to support. Check how completed courses would be recorded and whether the prospective agency would identify any additional learning requirements.
A transfer may be simpler to consider when you are not caring for a child, because there are fewer immediate arrangements to coordinate. Even then, you should confirm notice periods, approval details and the steps needed before accepting a placement through the new agency.
If you currently have a placement, the child’s welfare must guide any decision to transfer. Discuss the proposed move with the relevant professionals and establish how records, relationships, support and day-to-day care would be managed before making arrangements.
You can ask questions openly and review step carefully, with practical guidance to help you make an informed fostering decision.
Check how the agency manages records, safeguarding information, introductions and placement continuity. Ask who coordinates the move, what consent is required, and how concerns are documented clearly throughout the transfer.
A new agency should discuss the move with everyone affected, clarify roles, consider household views, and identify practical changes to routines, bedrooms, transport, training, or support arrangements before agreeing plans.
Approval does not simply move automatically. The new agency reviews your assessment, approval terms, household circumstances and records, then follows the required transfer process before formally confirming your approval status.
Ask whether both agencies provide a named transition contact, continued supervision, peer support, and access to advice while responsibilities change. Clarify when each service starts and ends, preventing support gaps.
An agency’s objection does not automatically prevent a move, but unresolved concerns may affect timing. Seek professional advice, follow contractual notice requirements, and prioritise children’s welfare throughout the transfer process.
If you are considering a foster-to-foster move, contact our local team to discuss your circumstances and ask questions. We can help you understand the next steps, information needed and practical considerations before you decide whether to proceed.