How long does foster carer training take?

Pre-approval foster carer training is usually delivered as a series of sessions completed before you can be approved, rather than as one single appointment. The total calendar time depends on how the sessions are arranged, the course requirements and whether any additional learning is identified during your assessment.

The course timetable and the amount of learning involved are not always the same thing. Sessions may be grouped together or spread across separate dates, depending on the training plan. A course delivered over fewer dates may involve longer sessions, while the same content could be arranged across more dates with time between sessions to read, reflect and complete activities.

Training forms part of the wider fostering assessment. It is designed to help you understand the responsibilities involved and to give you opportunities to consider how fostering could affect your household. The time required may therefore include more than attending taught sessions. You may also need to:

• complete learning activities or written reflections;
• take part in discussions, exercises or observed group work;
• consider how you would respond to practical fostering situations;
• provide evidence that you have understood important safeguarding and safer-care principles; and
• attend further discussions if the assessing team identifies an area that needs clarification or development.

Your previous experience may help you understand some parts of the course, but it does not necessarily remove the requirement to complete the core pre-approval training. This is because the training also establishes that you understand fostering-specific duties, recording requirements, confidentiality, safeguarding procedures and the support available to children in care. Your fostering team can explain which learning is relevant to your circumstances and whether any additional evidence is needed.

Everyone who is required to take part should plan to attend the complete programme. This commonly includes all applicants in a couple, and other household members may need to be involved in relevant discussions. Attendance matters because training is interactive: trainers need to see how applicants consider information, communicate with one another and apply learning to realistic situations.

If you miss a session, the team will explain how the missed learning should be covered. This could involve attending another session, completing agreed work or having a further conversation with a trainer. The important point is that required learning should be completed and understood before approval is recommended; simply being present for part of a course may not be sufficient.

It is also useful to distinguish pre-approval training from the rest of your fostering journey. Training does not represent the entire assessment, which can also include application checks, references, health information, household discussions and preparation for the fostering panel or approval decision. Once approved, foster carers continue learning through ongoing training and development, so the initial course is the beginning of training rather than the end.

When you speak to your fostering team, ask for the planned session dates, the expected attendance commitment, any work to complete between sessions and how previous experience will be considered. They can give you the timetable that applies to your application and explain how the training fits alongside the other stages of assessment.