Can private fostering become an approved foster care arrangement?

Yes. A person caring for a child under a private fostering arrangement may later apply to become an approved foster carer, but the two arrangements remain legally distinct. Approval is granted by a fostering service after it has assessed the applicant’s ability to care for children looked after by the local authority; it is not created by the private arrangement itself.

The assessment will consider the applicant as a prospective foster carer, rather than simply confirming that the existing placement is working. The fostering service will look at whether the applicant can provide safe, consistent and nurturing care, respond to children’s individual needs, work with professionals and manage the responsibilities involved in fostering.

What usually happens during the application?

• Initial discussion: The applicant talks with a fostering service about their circumstances, household, experience and the types of fostering they may be considering. This is also an opportunity to explain how fostering differs from the current private arrangement.
• Pre-assessment checks: The service gathers information about the applicant and other adults in the household. Checks commonly include criminal record information, health, personal references and relevant local authority enquiries. The home and household environment will also be considered.
• Training and preparation: Applicants normally complete preparatory training covering safeguarding, attachment, trauma, behaviour, safer caring, child development and working with birth families. Training helps identify the practical and emotional demands of fostering before a final decision is made.
• Full assessment: A fostering assessor explores the applicant’s background, relationships, support network, parenting or caring experience, motivation, strengths and areas for development. The assessment should also consider how fostering would affect everyone living in the home.
• Recommendation and decision: The completed assessment is considered through the fostering service’s approval process. The decision may specify the number, age range or characteristics of children the applicant is approved to foster, together with any relevant terms.

A private foster carer should be open about the existing arrangement from the outset. The fostering service will need to understand the child’s circumstances, the relationship between the child and carer, the parents’ role, and whether the proposed fostering application relates to that child, future placements or both. The child’s needs and legal status must be considered carefully rather than assuming that approval will provide an automatic route for the child to remain in the same home.

Until the applicant has received formal approval, the existing private fostering requirements continue to apply. This includes cooperating with the relevant local authority’s visits, enquiries and welfare checks, and informing the authority about significant changes. Applying to become an approved foster carer does not remove the need to comply with those duties.

Approval as a foster carer also does not mean that a child will automatically be placed with the applicant. Children looked after by a local authority are placed through the relevant fostering service, which must decide whether a proposed placement meets that child’s needs. Factors can include the child’s safety, relationships, education, health, identity, contact arrangements and the carer’s approved terms.

Where the private arrangement involves a child who may need to become looked after, the parents, carer and local authority should obtain specific advice about the child’s legal status and the most suitable care plan. A private fostering arrangement should not be used as a substitute for formal local authority action where a child requires accommodation or safeguarding intervention.

Someone considering this route should therefore speak to a fostering service before assuming that their current circumstances will meet the approval requirements. A local fostering team can explain the distinction between private fostering and approved fostering, outline the evidence needed and advise how the existing arrangement should be managed while an application is being considered.