What happens during a social services fostering assessment?

A social services fostering assessment is a structured suitability assessment carried out by a qualified social worker on behalf of a local authority. Its purpose is to establish whether you can provide safe, stable and consistent care, and what type of fostering would be appropriate for your household. The assessment considers the whole household rather than treating fostering as an individual decision.

After an initial discussion and home visit, you will usually be given information about the application process and asked whether you wish to proceed. If you apply, the local authority begins gathering evidence about your circumstances. The social worker will explain what information is needed, who will be contacted and how your information will be used. The exact sequence can differ between local authorities and according to the type of fostering being considered.

The assessment usually explores the following areas:

• Your reasons for fostering: You will need to explain why you want to foster, what you understand about children in care and how you expect fostering to affect your own life.
• Your understanding of children’s experiences: The social worker will consider your awareness of trauma, neglect, abuse, separation, loss, identity and the possible effects these experiences may have on behaviour and relationships.
• Your capacity to provide care: Discussions will cover routines, boundaries, supervision, education, appointments, activities and how you would respond when a child is distressed or presents challenging behaviour.
• Your relationships and household: The assessment considers the stability of important relationships, how decisions are made at home and whether everyone in the household understands and supports the application.
• Your health and personal history: Health information helps determine whether you can meet the practical demands of fostering. Previous experiences, including difficult periods in your life, are not automatically disqualifying; the relevant question is how they affect your current ability to care safely and reliably.
• Your home and community: The social worker considers sleeping arrangements, safety, privacy, space and access to local facilities. A home does not need to be perfect, but it must be suitable for the child’s needs and comply with relevant safety requirements.
• Your support network: Fostering can involve appointments, professional meetings and changes to family routines. The assessment will look at who can offer practical or emotional support and whether those people understand the responsibilities involved.
• Your ability to work with professionals: Foster carers share responsibility with social workers, schools, health professionals and birth family members. You will be assessed on your willingness to communicate openly, keep records, follow agreed plans and raise concerns.

Everyone who lives in the household will have an opportunity to express their views. Children in the family may be spoken to in an age-appropriate way, as their feelings and understanding are important to the assessment. The social worker may also ask about pets, previous fostering or caring experience, employment, childcare arrangements, cultural identity, religion and how you would help a child maintain important relationships.

Background checks are an important part of the process. These can include criminal-record checks for relevant household members, local authority checks, employment or other references and checks with previous partners or adult household members where appropriate. The purpose is to identify information that could affect a child’s safety or the suitability of the proposed arrangement. A past conviction or difficult circumstance should be discussed honestly rather than withheld; the assessment considers the nature of the information, how recent it is and what has changed since then.

Your social worker will normally meet with you on several occasions, both individually and with other members of the household. These meetings allow the assessor to test how your views apply to real situations, such as a child refusing to attend school, making allegations, having contact with relatives or struggling to accept household rules. You should have opportunities to ask questions, challenge misunderstandings and provide further information.

Preparation training generally takes place alongside the assessment. It helps applicants examine safer caring, safeguarding, attachment, trauma, equality, behaviour, recording and working with a child’s family. Training is also a practical way to show how you reflect on new information and whether fostering remains suitable for your household after learning more about its responsibilities.

The social worker then brings the evidence together in a written assessment report, commonly known as a Form F assessment in fostering. The report should describe your strengths, areas requiring further development, the support you may need and the types of placements that may be suitable. You should be given an opportunity to read the report and comment on factual inaccuracies before it is presented for consideration.

For a local authority fostering application, the report is normally considered by the fostering panel. The panel is made up of people with relevant experience and expertise. It reviews the evidence and makes a recommendation about approval, including any terms of approval such as the age range, number of children or placement needs you may be able to accommodate. The final decision is made by the local authority’s agency decision-maker, who considers the panel’s recommendation and the assessment evidence.

Possible outcomes include approval, a request for further information or assessment work, or a decision not to approve. Approval is not based on being a perfect parent or having experience of every situation. It depends on whether the evidence shows that you can work safely, learn, reflect and meet the needs of children with the support and conditions identified. If concerns arise, ask the social worker to explain them clearly, what evidence is being considered and whether there is an opportunity to address them.

Before the assessment starts, it is sensible to prepare by discussing fostering honestly with everyone at home, considering how it may affect work and family life, identifying people who could support you and gathering information about previous addresses, employment and health history. Be open throughout the process. A transparent assessment gives the local authority a more accurate basis for deciding which placements, training and support would be appropriate.