What support is available between therapeutic foster care placements?

Between therapeutic foster care placements, support is usually focused on maintaining your approval, strengthening your practice and ensuring you are ready for a future placement. It should be an active period of professional contact rather than a time when your relationship with the fostering service ends.

Supervision and debriefing can help you consider how a placement affected you and the wider household, particularly where the child had experienced trauma, loss or significant emotional and behavioural difficulties. A supervising social worker may help you identify what worked well, where boundaries were difficult to maintain and whether any further advice is needed. This is also an opportunity to discuss any safeguarding, recording or professional concerns through the appropriate channels.

Therapeutic fostering requires carers to keep developing their understanding of attachment, trauma, regulation, communication and behaviour. Between placements, your fostering service may help you identify development needs and access relevant learning. This could include refreshing existing knowledge, exploring a particular area of therapeutic care or preparing for needs that are likely to arise in a proposed match.

Your approval and circumstances may also be reviewed. Tell the fostering service about relevant changes in your health, household, employment, accommodation or availability. A change does not automatically prevent you from fostering, but it may need to be considered before another child or young person is placed. The service may also check that the household continues to understand its role and that the practical arrangements remain suitable.

When a possible match is being considered, support may include sharing appropriate information about the child or young person, discussing whether their needs fit your experience and helping you prepare questions for the professionals involved. You should have the chance to consider the information carefully rather than feeling pressured to accept a placement. For therapeutic care, it is particularly important to understand the child’s history, routines, known triggers, relationships, education and existing support network.

There may also be practical administration between placements. Keep your records up to date, complete any outstanding tasks and make sure essential household arrangements are ready for a new placement. Your fostering service can explain how its allowances and other financial arrangements operate when you do not have a child placed. Do not assume that placement-related payments continue in the same way between placements; ask for the current terms that apply to your situation.

Support can also involve preparing the household emotionally and practically. Other adults and children in the home may need space to talk about the previous placement, understand what will be different next time and raise concerns before a new child arrives. Honest communication helps the supervising social worker identify whether additional guidance or a slower transition is appropriate.

A useful between-placement plan should cover:

• the date and outcome of your last supervision or review meeting;
• any learning, consultation or therapeutic guidance you need;
• changes in your household or personal circumstances;
• questions about your approval, availability and the type of placement you can consider;
• practical preparations for introductions, contact arrangements and day-to-day care; and
• who to contact if a concern arises while you are waiting for another placement.

The exact arrangements depend on the fostering service and your individual circumstances. Before accepting another therapeutic placement, ask what support will be available, who will supervise the placement, how professionals will work together and how concerns should be escalated. Clear answers help you judge whether the proposed placement is appropriate and whether your household has the right conditions to provide consistent care.