Respite Care and Short Breaks in Fostering, Explained
Respite fostering means looking after a child for a weekend, a week or the odd night while their usual carers take a planned break. Here is what it involves, what it pays, how the tax works, and why it suits people who cannot give up a full-time job.
Fostering a Child Aged 8 and Over: What to Expect
Most people enquiring about fostering are picturing a toddler, but more than a quarter of children in care in England are sixteen or older. Here is what looking after a child aged 8 and over really involves, from school and pay to the support you get.
Can You Foster in a Rented Home or a Flat?
You do not need to own your home to foster. Here is what renting actually means in practice: landlord permission, the spare bedroom rules, the extra bedroom allowed for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit, and what the safety check looks for in a flat.
Emergency Fostering: What Happens When a Child Arrives the Same Day
Emergency placements start with a phone call and end with a child on your doorstep the same evening. Here is what really happens in the first few hours, what you need in the house, who answers when you ring at eleven at night, and how the paperwork catches up afterwards.
Men in Fostering: Why We Need More Male Foster Carers
Most first enquiries to a fostering agency come from women, and the sector has been careless about why. Here is what male foster carers actually do, what puts men off applying, and what the national figures do and do not tell us.
Do Foster Carers Pay Tax? Qualifying Care Relief Explained
Most foster carers pay no income tax on their fostering payments, thanks to Qualifying Care Relief. Here are the 2026/27 figures, worked examples using our own rates, the filing deadlines, and the National Insurance point that catches carers out.
Long-Term Fostering: What It Really Means to Be Someone’s Family
Long-term fostering means a child stays with one family until they are grown. Here is what that involves in practice, from parental responsibility and family time to Staying Put at 18.
Fostering Siblings: Keeping Brothers and Sisters Together
Around 37% of children in care who have a brother or sister are separated from them, usually because nobody had room for both. Here is what the law requires, whether siblings can share a bedroom, and what fostering two children involves at Fostering Hearts.
Can You Foster a Baby Without a Spare Room?
A spare bedroom is the first thing most fostering pages ask for, and it stops a lot of people before they start. For a child under three, a cot in your own room can work. Here is what the standards actually say, and the question that matters more than the bedroom.
Chuckles and Cheers: Lucy and Max’s Comical and Heart warming Journey From Fostering To Adoption
Sometimes Fostering leads to adoption….although it’s not always a straight journey!