Parent and Child Fostering: What It Actually Involves

In a parent and child placement, two people move in. Usually a young mum and her baby. You are not there to raise the baby. You are there to help her learn how, and to write down honestly what you see.

Please note: this is general information about a type of fostering, not legal advice about anyone’s case. The court and legal aid information is correct at 16 August 2026 and comes from Coram Child Law Advice on care proceedings. Whether a parent can care for their child, and what a court decides, is never for a foster carer to say.

What is parent and child fostering?

A parent and their child come to live with you.

Most often that is a mother and a baby. Sometimes it is both parents. Sometimes it is a pregnant teenager who gives birth while she is staying with you, and then the two of them stay on.

It is short. Around twelve weeks is typical, though it can run longer if the local authority asks for that.

While they are with you, local authority social workers are assessing whether the parent can care for their child on their own. Your part is to support the parent day to day, and to record what you see. You do not reach the conclusion. That belongs to the local authority and, where there are court proceedings, to the court.

Who moves in?

Our own factsheet lists the situations that come up most:

• a parent who is very young, or who has nobody around them
• a parent with a learning disability, a physical disability or mental ill health
• someone who has left an unsafe or unsanitary home, or people who put them at risk
• a parent whose older children were taken into care
• a parent whose care of their child has worried professionals

The legal picture varies more than people expect. Sometimes both the parent and the child are looked after. Sometimes only the child. Sometimes only the parent, if she is under 18 and already in care. Sometimes neither. That changes who holds parental responsibility and what you are allowed to decide, and your supervising social worker goes through it with you before anyone arrives.

What do you actually do all day?

Mostly you make tea and you notice things.

The teaching part follows a pattern:

• show the parent how something is done
• talk about it, including the bit nobody mentions (nappy cream, say)
• do it together
• stand back while they do it with you nearby
• let them do it alone, if that is safe and the placement agreement allows it

Here is what that looks like in a kitchen. You show her how to sterilise a bottle on a Tuesday. On Wednesday you are leaning on the door frame while she does it. By week six you are upstairs putting washing away and she has already done it without being asked.

All three of those mornings belong in the record. The third one is the one that matters.

What goes in the record?

Your notes may form part of the assessment, so they carry weight. You will be trained in how to write them.

The things carers are usually asked to record:

• daily routines, and who did what
• the health of everyone in the house, and any change in it
• developmental milestones, and how the parent helped with them
• the warmth between parent and child: do they smile at each other, or is she tense and far away
• accidents, injuries and incidents
• times the parent asked for help, which is a good sign and often goes unrecorded
• times the parent cared for the child without you in the room
• family time, and how everyone was before and afterwards

Write what you saw, not what you concluded. “She left the room for eleven minutes” is a record. “She is neglectful” is an opinion, and it helps nobody, least of all the child.

Why twelve weeks?

The assessment is led by local authority social workers and runs across about three months. They will meet the parent, and you, weekly or fortnightly.

The timescale is not arbitrary. Where care proceedings have been issued, the court has to conclude the case within 26 weeks of the application, a limit brought in by the Children and Families Act 2014. A twelve-week assessment has to sit inside that.

So the window is tight, and the first fortnight counts as much as the last.

Is it difficult?

Yes. Harder than most fostering, in one specific way.

You are supporting someone and observing her at the same time, and she knows it. Parents in these arrangements often feel judged, and they are being watched more closely than any of us would enjoy.

What comes up:

• a parent asking you to leave something out of your notes
• resentment about the restrictions in the agreement
• a parent who is pulled back towards the life she came from, and in rare cases leaves
• your own urge to take over

That last one is the thing to watch. If you do the night feeds because it is quicker and everyone gets more sleep, the record shows a baby who slept well and tells the social workers nothing whatsoever about the mother. Kindness that removes the parent from the picture is not kindness.

When a parent asks you to leave something out, say no, say why, and tell your supervising social worker the same day. Being open about what you have to record, from the first evening, spares everyone a lot of grief later.

Will I have to go to court?

You might. Your records can be used as evidence, and occasionally carers are asked to attend as a witness or to support the parent.

If that happens:

• go and look at the building beforehand, and work out the parking
• arrive half an hour early
• bring a book and something to eat, because it will be a long day
• reread your statement before you go in
• if you did not hear a question, ask for it again, and correct anything you got wrong

Nobody in that room is on their own. The child will normally have a children’s guardian appointed through Cafcass, a qualified social worker independent of the local authority who instructs a solicitor for the child. Parents in care proceedings are entitled to legal aid that is neither means tested nor merits tested.

Do I need a spare room?

For this type of fostering, yes.

Two people are moving in, so you need the space. It is usually one room rather than two, because a baby under two can sleep in a cot in the parent’s room.

That is different from ordinary baby fostering, where a cot in your own bedroom can be enough. We have written separately about fostering a baby without a spare room if that is the route you were thinking about.

What does it pay?

Our standard weekly rates, paid per child while a child is placed with you, are 479.50 pounds for a child aged 0 to 10 and 507.50 pounds for a young person aged 11 or over. Those are correct at 12 August 2026 and are set out in full on our page about foster carer allowance and pay.

One honest gap. We do not publish a separate parent and child rate, and the money here is more complicated: what the parent buys and what you buy has to be written into the placement agreement before anyone moves in. Ask us and we will give you the real figure rather than a guess.

Most fostering income is covered by Qualifying Care Relief, which we explain in our article on whether foster carers pay tax.

Who is good at this?

The approval route is the same Form F assessment as any other fostering, and it takes four to six months. You need to be over 21, emotionally steady and settled at home. You do not need to own your home, be married, have children of your own, or hold a childcare qualification.

On top of that, panel will want to see:

• you can hold a boundary with an adult, not only with a child
• you can have an awkward conversation without it turning into a row
• you can write clearly and tell a fact from an opinion
• you understand a bit about child development and attachment
• you are honest with yourself about sharing your kitchen with another adult who did not choose you

If you have ever supervised staff, or helped a friend through something hard without taking the wheel off her, you already have most of it. Once approved, you get training built around parent and child work. The wider route in is set out in our piece on the assessment process.

You will not be doing this on your own

Our supervising social workers hold around six families each, so yours knows your household rather than your file number. There is someone at the end of the phone out of hours, and you get training specific to this work once you are approved.

Ofsted inspected us in November 2024 and called us a good agency with outstanding leadership and management. One of our carers told the inspector: “My supervising social worker has been an absolute lifeline for me. I feel so much more confident in my role because of her.”

You would not be judged for finding this hard. Most people do.

You do not need to decide today.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a parent and child placement last?

Around twelve weeks is typical, and it can run longer if the local authority asks. The assessment of the parent usually takes about three months. Where care proceedings are running, the court has to conclude the case within 26 weeks of the application.

Do I decide whether the parent keeps their child?

No. You observe and support, and you record what you see. The assessment is led by local authority social workers, and the decision rests with them and with the court.

Do I need a spare bedroom for a parent and child placement?

Yes. The parent and baby usually share one room, with the baby in a cot, so it is one spare room rather than two.

Can I do this if I have never fostered before?

Yes, although not everyone starts here. You go through the same Form F assessment as any other foster carer, with some extra areas around record keeping and working alongside another adult. Specific training follows approval.

Will I have to give evidence in court?

Possibly. Your records may be used as evidence, and you could be asked to attend as a witness. You would be prepared for it and you would not go alone.