Types of Fostering

Every child who comes into foster care is unique, and so is every foster parent. Because children need different levels of care and support at different times in their lives, there are several different types of fostering.

As an experienced fostering agency, Banya will work closely with you to match you with the right type of fostering for your family, your home, and your lifestyle. Whether you can offer a safe haven for a few nights or a permanent home through to adulthood, you can make a life-changing difference.

These are some of the most common types of fostering:

Short-Term Fostering / Emergency Fostering

This is the most prevalent type of fostering required nationally. Short term placements are required whilst local authorities assess how best to meet the young person’s needs in the future. On many occasions we are called to work alongside local authority colleagues to support young people returning home after the issues that lead to them coming into care have been addressed.

Short term foster carers provide a temporary place to stay until the child can return home to their own family, move into a longer-term fostering placement or an adoptive family is found. This can last for a few weeks or longer.

Many children and young people are placed in emergencies. This is often due to situations of risk where the need for urgent action is required to make a child safe. These placements can last for just a short time or develop into longer periods of a few months, depending on family circumstances.

Long-Term / Permanent Fostering

When a child or young person cannot return home, decisions have to be made to find a permanent family for the child. These placements will usually last until the young person leaves care at 18 years of age. Often they remain as part of the carer’s family even when they have moved into independence.

Permanence provides children with the opportunity to develop a sense of identity and form attachments through long-lasting family membership. Placement stability is a key factor that can make a difference in a child’s life and improve their chances of achieving positive outcomes through childhood and beyond.

There are all sorts of children for whom permanence is the most appropriate type of fostering: children and adolescents; children with special needs; siblings who need to grow up together – for whatever reason, they all need a permanent family.

A carer offering this type of placement is offering a lifelong commitment to a young person providing them with a safe and loving home.

Our carers who offer permanent placements often stay in touch with young people they have cared for, long after they have left home. Many children return at holiday times, or keep in touch after they have started a family of their own.

The real reward of permanence in foster care comes from seeing young people mature and develop – through the good times, and the more challenging times!

Respite Fostering

Respite carers provide short-term care, usually for a weekend or a couple of weeks. This gives full-time foster carers, or sometimes birth families, a much-needed break. It is a fantastic way to become a foster carer if you work full-time but still want to help.

Parent & Child Fostering

This involves a vulnerable parent (often a young mother) and their baby coming to live with you. Your role is not to raise the baby, but to support, observe, and guide the parent so they can safely develop the skills they need to care for their child independently.

Sibling Groups

Keeping brothers and sisters together is always a priority. If you have the space in your home, fostering siblings means they do not have to endure the trauma of being separated from each other on top of being separated from their parents.

Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children

We frequently look after children and young people who have arrived in the UK without a parent or guardian. They need a safe, welcoming home where they can learn the language, adjust to a new culture, and feel secure after what is often a traumatic journey.

Therapeutic Fostering

Some children and young people in the care system have experienced severe trauma, abuse, or neglect. These experiences can deeply affect their behaviour, emotions, and ability to trust adults. They may have had previous placement breakdowns whereby the standard fostering placement has been unsuccessful or where their adoption placement has broken down. For these children, standard foster care is not enough, they require Therapeutic Fostering.

Therapeutic fostering is a highly specialised type of care that focuses on healing. It requires a calm, resilient foster carer who can look past challenging behaviours to see the frightened child underneath.

How It Works At Banya

If you choose to become a therapeutic foster carer, you are never doing it alone. You become part of a dedicated clinical team working around the child.

Specialist Training: You will receive extensive, ongoing training in trauma-informed care and therapeutic parenting techniques, helping you understand how trauma affects a child’s brain and behaviour.
Wrap-Around Support: You will work closely with therapists, social workers, and educational psychologists. Banya provides intensive 24/7 support to ensure you have the guidance you need at all times.
Enhanced Allowances: Because therapeutic fostering is highly demanding and often requires you to be at home full-time, it comes with a higher professional fostering allowance to reflect your skills and dedication.

If you have previous experience in social care, healthcare, or working with vulnerable children, therapeutic fostering could be an incredibly rewarding path for you.

Which Type Of Fostering Is Right For You?

Could you become a foster carer and provide such an essential service to children and young people in your area? If so Banya fostering agency would love to hear from you, especially if you’re interested in offering specialist fostering services.

If you would like some specific information on any particular types of fostering, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our highly experienced team of fostering specialists would be happy to talk through any concerns with you.

Call us today on 0800 989 0135, or fill in our short enquiry form to start the conversation.