What does the fostering assessment in Solihull involve?

The fostering assessment in Solihull is a structured process for deciding whether you can provide safe, stable and nurturing care to a child or young person. It looks at your circumstances, relationships, experience, health, home environment and ability to work with professionals, birth families and other members of the child’s network. The aim is not to find perfect applicants, but to understand your strengths, identify any support you may need and establish which types of placement may be suitable.

How the assessment is usually organised

For applicants in England, the process is commonly arranged in two stages. Stage 1 gathers key information and completes essential checks. Stage 2 is the more detailed assessment, in which a fostering social worker explores your background, attitudes and practical readiness in depth. The stages may overlap in some circumstances, and your assessing social worker will explain how the process applies to your situation.

At the beginning, you will normally discuss your reasons for wanting to foster and the types of children you may be considering caring for. This is an opportunity to talk openly about your expectations, previous experience and any questions or concerns. Fostering can involve working as part of a professional team, so the assessment also considers whether you understand the responsibilities involved and can communicate constructively with other adults.

What the social worker will explore

• Motivation and expectations: why you want to foster, what you understand about children’s experiences and how realistic your expectations are about behaviour, relationships and progress.
• Parenting and caring skills: how you set boundaries, respond to distress, encourage positive behaviour and adapt your approach to an individual child.
• Personal history: important experiences from your childhood and adult life, including events that may affect your approach to caring for children. This is considered sensitively and in relation to your current circumstances.
• Relationships and household dynamics: how household members feel about fostering, how disagreements are handled and whether everyone understands the effect a placement could have on family life.
• Safeguarding and professional boundaries: your understanding of keeping children safe, maintaining appropriate boundaries, handling confidential information and reporting concerns.
• Health and resilience: whether your physical and emotional health allows you to undertake fostering duties and how you manage pressure or seek help when necessary.
• Practical suitability: the space available in your home, household routines, transport, employment commitments and arrangements for managing appointments, school matters and contact.
• Identity and inclusion: how you would support a child’s cultural, religious, linguistic and personal identity, including their links with family and community.

The assessment is based on evidence rather than a single conversation. Your social worker may ask you to reflect on previous situations, discuss hypothetical examples or explain how you would respond to a child with particular needs. They will also consider information from the people who know you, the completed checks and your participation in preparation training. Being honest about areas where you need to develop is generally more useful than trying to give answers you think the assessor wants to hear.

Checks and supporting information

Fostering assessments include statutory and agency checks designed to protect children. These can include criminal record information, local authority checks, medical information and references. Depending on your circumstances, the assessing team may need information about previous addresses, former relationships, adult children, other household members or people who have regularly cared for children. You should disclose relevant information fully; an issue does not automatically prevent someone from fostering, but withholding information can affect the assessment.

A medical assessment is used to consider whether there are any health factors that could affect your ability to foster and whether adjustments or additional support may be appropriate. It is not normally a requirement to have no health conditions. The relevant question is whether you can meet the needs of a child safely and consistently, taking account of professional advice.

Preparation training

Preparation training forms part of learning about the role and may also help you decide whether fostering is right for you. Topics can include safeguarding, attachment, trauma, managing behaviour, safer caring, recording information, working with birth families and supporting children through transitions. You will be expected to take part in discussions and consider how the learning relates to your own home and experience.

Assessment report and panel

Once the information has been gathered, the social worker writes an assessment report. You should have an opportunity to check the factual accuracy of the report and comment on it before it is presented. The report sets out the evidence considered, your strengths, any identified risks or development needs and the types of fostering approval being recommended.

A fostering panel then considers the report and makes a recommendation about your suitability and the terms of approval. Panel members may ask questions, and you will be told in advance what to expect. The final decision is made by the fostering service’s decision-maker after considering the panel’s recommendation. Approval is not simply based on whether an applicant has experience of parenting; people come to fostering with different backgrounds, and the assessment considers how their particular skills and circumstances meet children’s needs.

How to prepare

• Be ready to discuss your reasons for fostering and the changes it could make to your household.
• Think about the support available from relatives, friends and other trusted adults, while recognising that they cannot replace your own responsibilities as a foster carer.
• Gather accurate details about your employment, addresses, relationships and household members.
• Consider how you would manage privacy, safer caring, contact arrangements and the impact of fostering on children already living with you.
• Raise health, financial or personal concerns early so that they can be assessed properly and any suitable support can be considered.

The assessment should give you a clear understanding of fostering as well as giving the fostering service enough information to make a safe, evidence-based decision. Your assessing social worker can explain each stage, clarify what information is needed and discuss any areas that require further consideration.