Parent and child fostering

Parent and child fostering involves the placement of a parent (mother or father) who is experiencing difficulties and their baby or young child in a foster home where guidance is available. The foster carer:

• does not necessarily provide parental care (except when a situation demands, from time to time) but helps and encourages the parent to develop their skills.
• has an important role observing how the parent looks after the child and needs to keep good records.

This can be a very complex and challenging type of care and requires a number of core skills and qualities including:

• assertiveness
• discretion
• confidence
• sensitivity
• 24-hour commitment

This kind of placement is often an alternative to a mother-and-baby unit and usually results from a court referral, but not exclusively so. A baby's social worker may make the decision for such a placement, if the parent isn't coping well and needs extra help but doesn't have an extended family. The parent might not necessarily be a young person.

Other types of foster care:

• Short-term foster care
• Long-term foster care
• Day foster care
• Special needs foster care
• Respite foster care
• Respite foster care for children with disabilities
• Concurrency
• 16Plus
• Specialist schemes