What training is provided for fostering teenagers?

Training for fostering teenagers is provided in stages, beginning before approval and continuing throughout a placement. It combines essential preparation with practical guidance, helping prospective and approved foster carers understand their responsibilities and respond appropriately to a teenager’s individual circumstances.

Before approval, preparation training helps you consider whether fostering is right for your household and what the role involves in practice. It normally includes:

• the responsibilities of a foster carer and the expectations of the fostering service;
• safer caring arrangements within the household;
• how to maintain appropriate records and share information responsibly;
• health, education and day-to-day care planning;
• supporting a teenager’s identity, culture and personal history;
• working with social workers, schools, health professionals and birth family members; and
• what to do if there are concerns about a teenager’s safety, welfare or whereabouts.

The training also helps you understand the professional side of fostering. This includes confidentiality, delegated authority, reporting responsibilities, complaints, allegations and the importance of following the teenager’s agreed care plan. You will have opportunities to ask questions and consider how the information applies to your own household.

Teenagers may have additional needs connected with online activity, exploitation, missing episodes, substance misuse, education, independence or contact arrangements. Training can help carers recognise potential risks, respond without escalating situations and seek advice through the appropriate safeguarding procedures. It also covers the importance of recording significant events accurately and passing relevant information to the supervising social worker or other professionals.

Once you are approved, learning continues as part of your development as a foster carer. Further training may relate to a teenager’s particular needs, such as identity and belonging, mental health, neurodiversity, disability, relationships, preparation for independence or moving on from care. The subjects you are asked to complete will depend on your role, the needs of the teenagers placed with you and the requirements identified during supervision or review.

Training is not intended to turn you into a specialist before you begin. It gives you a working foundation, while supervision and advice help you apply that knowledge to real situations. You should discuss any uncertainty before accepting a placement and continue to ask for guidance when a teenager’s circumstances change.

Become a Foster Family supports carers with preparation, ongoing learning and practical guidance. The training plan can therefore be considered alongside the assessment process, the information provided about a proposed placement and the support available from the fostering team. This helps you identify any additional learning needed before or during a teenager’s placement.