Do foster carer opportunities include sibling placements?

Sibling placements are assessed as a household arrangement, with the aim of meeting each child’s needs while preserving important family relationships. The children may share a bedroom only where this is suitable and permitted; otherwise, your home must provide appropriate sleeping arrangements for each child.

Why siblings may be placed together

Being placed away from parents can be unsettling, and remaining with brothers or sisters may provide familiarity and emotional reassurance. Keeping siblings together can help maintain their routines, identity and relationships during a period of change. The decision is made on the children’s best interests rather than simply on the fact that they are related.

Sibling groups are not automatically placed together. A fostering service will consider whether living together is safe and beneficial for everyone. Separate placements may be considered where there is a significant risk of harm, a history of abusive behaviour between the children, very different needs, or another reason that means a joint placement would not be appropriate. Their relationships should still be considered when planning contact.

What caring for siblings can involve

A sibling group may include children of different ages, developmental stages and personalities. You may need to balance several sets of routines, school arrangements, appointments, hobbies and contact plans. Each child should have individual attention and opportunities to talk privately with a trusted adult, rather than being treated as one unit.

• Understanding how the children relate to one another and what helps them feel secure
• Supporting different emotional, behavioural, educational or health needs
• Establishing household boundaries that are fair but appropriate to each child’s age
• Helping the children maintain safe relationships with their birth family
• Keeping records and sharing relevant observations with the professionals involved
• Managing practical arrangements such as transport, school communication and appointments

Some sibling groups may have experienced trauma, neglect or instability together. Their behaviour towards one another can change when they move into a safe and structured home. Training and advice can help you understand these responses and use consistent, child-centred approaches.

How matching works

Before a sibling placement is proposed, the social workers involved will share information about the children and consider whether your household can meet their combined needs. This may include their ages, personalities, history, education, health, behaviour, relationships with one another, contact arrangements and likely duration of the placement.

You should also be given the opportunity to ask detailed questions before agreeing. Useful areas to explore include:

• How many children would be placed and whether they would share a bedroom
• What is known about their routines, interests, health and education
• How they behave towards each other and how disagreements are managed
• What contact with parents or other relatives is expected
• Whether the placement is intended to be short-term, long-term or part of another plan
• What practical support, training and financial arrangements would apply

Agreeing to be considered for sibling placements does not mean accepting every proposal. Matching should be discussed carefully, and you need to be satisfied that your household, accommodation and existing commitments are suitable. A placement should not be accepted if it would put a child, another household member or the sibling group at unreasonable risk.

Assessment and preparation

If you are applying to foster siblings, your assessment will consider more than the number of spare bedrooms. It will look at your parenting or caring experience, relationships within the household, support network, health, resilience, ability to work with professionals and capacity to provide individual care for more than one child.

Training normally covers safeguarding, attachment, trauma, managing behaviour, safer caring, equality and the impact of fostering on the wider household. For a sibling placement, it is particularly useful to understand sibling dynamics, children’s developmental differences and ways to give each child appropriate individual time.

Other adults in the household will need to understand how a placement could affect family life. If you have children of your own, their views and welfare will form part of the assessment. Practical planning may include bedroom arrangements, transport, childcare, school travel and how you will manage appointments or contact.

Support after placement

Foster carers receive ongoing guidance rather than being expected to manage a sibling placement without professional help. Your supervising social worker and the children’s social workers can help review how the arrangement is progressing, identify emerging concerns and consider changes to the support plan. You may also be offered further training or specialist advice when the children’s needs require it.

Allowances and other financial arrangements are discussed as part of the fostering process and can depend on the placement and the needs of the children. Ask for a clear explanation of what support is available before agreeing to a placement.

If you are interested in fostering siblings, the first step is to make an enquiry and discuss your household circumstances. The assessment will establish whether sibling placements are suitable for you, while future matching decisions will be based on the needs and circumstances of each child.