What training do foster carers get?

What training will I get when I become a foster carer?

This is one of the first questions most people ask us when enquiring about fostering.

This short blog will outline the training we offer our foster carers and we hope this helps with any doubts that you may have about your ability to foster.

We wanted to start this piece by reminding anyone thinking of fostering that you do not need to know everything at the start of your fostering journey, we don’t look for perfect (we don’t even believe that exists). If you want to make a difference to a child’s life, and can provide a loving, safe home then we can teach you the rest.

It’s also worth noting most people we speak to about fostering actually have many more existing and transferable skills and knowledge than they realise.

At Fair Ways we believe training is important to help develop your career as a foster carer and we offer the most comprehensive range available, including courses that are not available from other IFA’s.

So…what training do we offer our amazing foster carers?

To begin with, we offer a Skills to Foster weekend which gives a fantastic insight into fostering. This course is run by our Fostering Recruitment Manager Paula Lewis who has over 15 years fostering experience and  – we challenge you to ask her a question she hasn’t heard before.  

Once you join us as a foster carer, you will do the following courses as part of your induction:

Now breathe. A year has passed and you can barely remember those initial concerns. By now you are feeling confident in your ability to be a fantastic foster carer and you’ve got 12 months of learning and experience under your belt.

Of course there may still be days when you need support or advice, that’s completely normal, but you know your supervising social worker is just a phone call away and will be able to support you with any challenges you may face.

Now you have settled into fostering we will invite you to two more specialist training courses; Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) and RiiSE – (Relationship Inspired Ideas for Supportive Environments). They are not compulsory but both have received fantastic reviews from our foster carers.

Finally, as if the above wasn’t enough we also offer over 100 online professional development training courses.

We hope this blog has showed you how much training and support is on offer to you as a foster carer with Fair Ways. If you have any more questions about training please do email us at fostering.info@fairways.co and we will be more than happy to answer any questions you have.