What should I discuss with my foster carer support worker?

Discuss anything that affects the safety, stability and progress of a placement, as well as how information is recorded, shared and acted upon. A foster carer support worker can help you review events objectively, understand your responsibilities and turn concerns into clear actions.

Useful topics include:

• Daily records and significant events: Check that your records are factual, dated and sufficiently detailed. Ask what should be recorded, who needs to see it and how to distinguish observations from opinions.
• The child’s wishes and participation: Discuss how the child can express views about their care, family relationships, education and future plans. Your support worker can explain how the child’s voice should be included in reviews and decisions.
• Contact with family members: Raise any changes, missed contact, difficult handovers or information disclosed during contact. Discuss how to record these matters and when they should be passed to the supervising social worker or the child’s social worker.
• Education and health arrangements: Ask who is responsible for sharing information with school, attending meetings and arranging appointments. Where consent or authority is unclear, ask your support worker to explain the correct route rather than making assumptions.
• Safer caring and household boundaries: Review how household members, visitors, transport, online activity, photographs and personal information should be managed. This is particularly important if circumstances in the household change.
• Incidents, allegations and complaints: Report concerns promptly, including accidents, missing episodes, damage, threats, disclosures or allegations. Ask what immediate steps are required, who must be informed and what you should say or avoid saying while the matter is being considered.
• Meetings and written reports: Check which meetings are coming up, what information you need to provide and whether you should contribute to a report or review. Your support worker can help you separate essential facts from background detail and identify unanswered questions.
• Professional relationships: Discuss difficulties with social workers, schools, health professionals or birth family members in a factual way. Ask for help preparing for a conversation when communication has become unclear or arrangements are not being followed.
• Allowances and household records: Ask how fostering-related payments, receipts, expenses and financial records should be managed under your agency’s procedures. Do not rely on informal advice if you are unsure whether an expense is claimable or how it should be documented.
• Confidentiality and information sharing: Clarify what information can be discussed with relatives, friends, schools and other professionals. Foster children’s personal details should be protected, including in conversations, messaging groups and social media.

Before a supervision or support meeting, make a short list of events, dates, decisions you do not understand and questions you want answered. Bring relevant notes, but avoid sharing confidential information through unsecured channels unless your agency has told you that this is appropriate.

Be open about mistakes, uncertainty and situations that have not gone as planned. Early discussion gives your support worker a clearer opportunity to provide guidance and identify whether another professional needs to be involved. If you believe a child is at immediate risk, follow your fostering service’s safeguarding or emergency procedure rather than waiting for a scheduled discussion.

At the end of the meeting, confirm what has been agreed, who is responsible for each action, what information still needs to be obtained and when the matter will be reviewed. Ask for important decisions or changes to be recorded in writing so that you, the child’s social worker and other relevant professionals are working from the same information.