Barnardo's Fostering & Adoption NI

BARNARDO'S BITESIZE: The Assessment Process

• Barnardo's Fostering & Adoption NI

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Thinking about fostering but feeling overwhelmed by the process? Too busy to listen to the longer episode? We've got your back!


This bitesize episode pulls back the curtain on the fostering assessment, walking you through exactly what to expect from your first contact with Barnardo's through to the home visit and beyond. We address common misconceptions head-on: No, you don't need parenting experience. Yes, your spare bedroom currently being used as an office is completely fine. And that home visit? It's not about judging your housekeeping skills!

Our fostering specialists explain the essential criteria (being at least 21, having some experience with children, and having a spare bedroom) while emphasizing that the assessment process is designed to be supportive rather than intimidating. We explore what actually happens during a home visit, why your support network matters so much, and how social workers help match you with the right type of fostering opportunity - whether that's short-term placements, long-term care, or fostering to adopt.

Perhaps most importantly, we highlight that fostering assessment is a two-way conversation. It's as much about you understanding the realities of caring for children from the care system as it is about us understanding your motivation and circumstances. The journey to becoming a foster carer should feel informative and empowering rather than overwhelming.

To hear more from Ben, visit https://www.buzzsprout.com/2224608/episodes/13498142-navigating-the-fostering-assessment-process-with-ben-rice

Ready to take the first step? The children who need stable, loving homes are waiting. Search for Barnardo's online or follow the link in our program description to learn more about fostering with us.

Learn more about fostering and adoption with Barnardo’s:
https://www.barnardos.org.uk/get-support/fostering-and-adoption

To learn more about fostering and adoption in NI, visit our Linktr.ee:
https://linktr.ee/barnardosfosteringni

To ask a question, give us some feedback or make a topic request, email us at:
BFANI@barnardos.org.uk

Foster belonging with us!

Ness:

I guess what we want to talk to you about today is the assessment process, because there's a lot of terminology that comes into social work and anything to do with social workers, which can be a little bit off-putting, I think, for people who don't know very much about it. So let's pretend I am interested in fostering In that first phone call. What can I expect?

Ben:

in that first phone call. Well, first to say, if, if you submit a, an online um inquiry, we would really like to be in touch with you within within 24 hours um, obviously Monday to Friday, nine to five. And then really that, that first phone it's really just getting a little bit of information about yourself, about your interest in fostering or adoption, what has brought you to the point of making that call, because we know that quite often this thought can be with people for some time before they reach that point. So we sort of touch a little bit around that in terms of motivation, but go into that more detail later.

Ben:

But it really is, then do you meet, I suppose, our initial criteria and I suppose things like in terms of age, there is a minimum age of 21. And there's no actual official maximum age, but obviously we need to consider people's health and medical circumstances. So if there are any queries around that, there is a medical assessment that's completed for every applicant. We'll want to hear about your experience of children. You do not have to have parented children. It's really important to make that clear. But we do ask do you care for children in some capacity? May it be within your wider family network, employment, voluntary work it's really important that you have childcare experience to draw on. Really, as we're working through the assessment process, but also in terms of just trying to, I suppose, transfer your experience and skills you've developed around that, in terms of caring for the needs of looked after children.

Ben:

We'll look at that. We will ask if there have been any convictions. Serious offences. Convictions will not rule you out, but obviously we'll need to consider the nature of those and we'll be having a conversation around them. Around them.

Ben:

We'll ask things around your relationship, such as status. If you're in a relationship, we absolutely welcome applications from single applicants, but if in a relationship, we'd want to you know, ensure that there has been, there's stability in that relationship. You've been together for a period of time and we'll look at that. We'll consider the ages of your children, if there are any children, and what that might mean. So there are the kind of initial conversation we'll have on that initial inquiry call. What will happen then is, if you meet our essential criteria, we will invite you to an information session and we tend to run those every two weeks, usually on Friday, and that will look in a wee bit more detail about the needs of the children, what will be expected of you as a foster care, a little bit more about the assessment process and really at that point you take away what we call an expression of interest form that will be sent to you Should you submit that. We will then allocate a social worker to complete a home visit to you in your home.

Ness:

Great. Let me just recap a second, Ben, In that first phone conversation. There'll be quite a lot of information gathering and one of the important things is to talk about those essential criteria. Can we just recap what those essential criteria are? Now? You did mention over 21 21 there isn't an upper age limit, but we do have to consider health concerns. A spare bedroom would that be fair to say?

Ben:

Absolutely a spare bedroom if there is an interest in siblings. Younger siblings can share for a short term period, but really you would need two spare bedrooms if you're considering long-term fostering or adoption of siblings.

Ness:

And then they would be given an expression of interest form. Is that right?

Ben:

That's right, and should they submit that, then we will allocate a social worker to complete the home visit.

Ness:

So we've got an allocated social worker who is then working with you through the process, and there's this home visit. What happens at the home visit? Now do I have to sort of straighten out the cushions and make sure I'm terribly tidy and get the tea and buns out? What happens then?

Ben:

Well, look, we would hope that that's as informal as possible. Really, that's a two-way process. It's to allow us to give you, the applicant, more information about the process, about the needs of the children, but also for us to get a lot more detail about the applicants. So we will look at things. We'll start off, we will have a look around the home. We'll be interested in that. We'll be looking at for any obvious health and safety hazards. Maybe in terms of the outside of the home and the garden, we will want to see the room or rooms that they would potentially use for a foster child. So, yes, there is an element of us needing to see around the home just to ensure there are no immediate concerns. In terms of the house itself, we will then start to take a bit more information just about the applicant or applicants as a couple. We'll ask really things like again, maybe a bit more detail about their experience of caring for children. Again, maybe a bit more detail about their experience of caring for children. We'll ask about their employment history. We'll focus in around motivation and ask a bit more detail about that. What has brought them to this stage? Really, it's a lengthy enough form that we work through. We'll ask them again just in terms of are there any medical issues? We'll ask about people's health. I think it's important. You know, we understand that when people make that initial call, they maybe don't want to fully disclose everything over the phone to someone they've just met for the first time. So, um, we don't understand that. That is something. Maybe more private issues that they want to wait and discuss face to face with a social worker in their homes, of things around, potentially medical issues, possibly convictions, any previous social services involvement with their own families. So we'll look at that.

Ben:

But really looking at understanding what their experience has been of children but then also talking to them about the types of referrals that we get, the needs, which are quite complex, of the children that are being placed with us. So we'll look at that. We'll want to hear about the family's children again, if there are any, just in terms of ages and where they go to school. Are there adult children in the home? We'll ask about support network, which is really crucial for any foster care. So it's almost a little money assessment, if you like, where we get as much information as possible about the applicants. We then take that back. So the social workers. I'm a practice manager on the team but have oversight of recruitment, so the social workers bring those back to me and we have a conversation about the visit and really look at whether we feel the applicant or couple have the capacity to foster or adopt with our service.

Ness:

That's good. So basically, in that home visit it's really a getting to know you, although you have a form and you're asking questions and you're asking questions. Really it's a chance to reflect on why someone might want to foster, talking about the realities of fostering children from the care system, looking at expectations, checking and making sure that the family setup whatever that is or home setup would be suitable for a child. Can I ask a really silly question? If I was very interested in being a foster carer and I had a spare bedroom, but perhaps that spare bedroom was being used as an office and I brought you in as a social worker and said I think this room would work, I can imagine that would be quite anxiety-inducing. If you were sort of interested in fostering, you had a spare room, it wasn't actually being used at the moment. Would that be an issue?

Ben:

It's actually quite a common thing that we find. You know that it may be that the room isn't set up for a child. Quite often, you know, if it's a third bedroom, fourth bedroom, it may be set up as an office. We would just be asking the question in terms of how, how will an applicant family manage without that? You know, are they working from home? How would they manage that, you know, should a child be placed with them and fostering?

Ben:

But now we will work with people around that suppose it's looking at the bigger picture in terms of there will be an expectation then that the room is very much ready, you know, prior to then being approved as foster care and isn't, you know, continuing to be used as an office. We always say to people, you know, it's often good for a child to have a blank canvas, who that they can really help and put, um, you know, their mark on and not walk into a room that is their the finished article. People shouldn't feel any, any pressure about having a room ready and uh and ready to go before they've even been approved.

Ness:

Now that's great to hear. The other thing I wanted to ask when people come into fostering and fostering and adoption, they might not necessarily know the differences between fostering and adoption and they might not realise that there are lots of different types of foster carers. So there might be someone who comes in as a short breaks or respite carer or someone who does short term fostering, and short term fostering can be considered up to two years, as I understand it. And then there's long term fostering, where a child may be placed until adulthood, and then there's we have a fostering to adoption service. And these are very big considerations when you are very early in the process. I mean, are people expected to already know this stuff or is that something that they're able to sort of explore with their social worker through the process?

Ben:

absolutely, absolutely. The only slight difference would be if they were interested in foster to adopt. That is a different form essentially that we use the assessment form that we use. So for people who are interested in that, we would be considering that as an adoption assessment from the outset. Certainly, people who are interested in fostering we've talked there the different, different formats we we would work with people around that but certainly we are interested in recruiting people who can care for children on a full-time basis, whether that be for emergency, for a few weeks, months, through to short term, as you said, which is right up to two years, and then right through then to long term, caring for a child until they're 18.

Ness:

So when it is when it is fostering.

Ben:

You know we will. We will work with people during the assessment process because it's really important that we get that right. You know, yes, there's a huge need for full-time foster participants, but we will try to work with people in terms of what they feel comfortable with.

Speaker 3:

If you'd like to hear more from the Barnardo's Fostering and Adoption NI podcast, like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts To learn more about fostering adoption with us. Search for Barnardo's online or find the link in our program description.