Foster carers play a vital role in supporting looked-after children, but they can be overlooked with the focus often on adoption services. However, with some 82,170 children being looked-after in England alone there’s desperate need for more people to consider fostering.

New Family Social works hard to encourage more LGBTQ+ people to explore this parenting route. The charity now counts many foster care agencies among its organisational members, from the National Fostering Group, to Barnardo's to various local authority fostering services.

As part of New Family Social’s drive to improve the number of LGBTQ+ foster carers the charity also calls on foster member agencies to make sure that all of their existing foster carers can access the charity’s services for free. While new recruits may be aware of this offer, long-standing foster carers may not be.

Unfortunately there’s no national data collection of the sexual orientation or gender identity of existing foster carers. This means there’s no evidence base to encourage more LGBTQ+ people to explore fostering. New Family Social strongly recommends that member agencies collate this information for themselves, to bolster their recruitment efforts.

Takeaway

• Fostering agencies increasingly join New Family Social to provide dedicated support for their LGBTQ+ carers.
• Long-standing LGBTQ+ carers and new recruits should be made aware of the services that they can access free of charge through their agency’s membership of New Family Social.
• It’s strongly recommended that fostering agencies capture sexual orientation and gender identity information anonymously from their foster carers. It can be used as a benchmark to help in recruitment efforts and to track the efficacy of campaigns.

Grey skies, rain and a bit more rain. Spring is here, so let's brighten things up.

So now is the time to get all of the colouring pens / crayons / pencils out of the box or drawers and set the kids a challenge.

We are starting a regular art competition, open to all of our member's kids. 

As it's been a bit grey, the theme, by popular demand (well at least around the coffee machine) is  COLOUR.

We want to see the most amazing drawings or paintings using as much colour as possible.  

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. By entering the competition, parents and guardians confirm that they have read and understood, and agree to be bound by, the following competition rules

2. The competition is open to all children (placed, adopted, fostered) of registered members of New Family Social.

3. Entries must be delivered via email.

4.The winner(s) will be announced on our website, but we will be sensitive to how the name of the winner is announced.  For example, you can state that you prefer just initials and the town or county.

5. Entry to the competition is free, however, all materials for the creation and submission of artwork must be provided by the school or individual. 6.All artwork must be the original idea of the entrant and not infringe on anyone else’s copyright.

7. Entries must be received no later than 4.00pm on Friday 22nd June 2020

8. The children must have fun producing the artwork. 9. Individual entries –please ensure your child's name, age, address and contact telephone number are marked clearly in the email. We are only able to accept one submission per child

11.The winners of the competition shall be decided by the staff of New Family Social

12. By entering the competition, children and their parents/guardians give their consent to New Family Social to use their work, free of charge, in any publicity and/or promotional activities.

15. No cash alternative to any prize is available and the prizes shall be non-transferable.

16. The Trust is not responsible for late, lost or delayed entries.

17.The decision of the judging panel is final and binding on all entrants and no correspondence will be entered into.

March is soon upon is and our LGBT+ adoption and fostering week is being planed.  Here's what we are doing for 2020 and why. LGBT+ adopters and foster carers are making real differences to children's lives. We here about some wonderful stories. Let us share the latest one with you.

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Help for LGBT+ adopters & foster carers

Help for adoption & foster care agencies

Help for LGBT+ adopters & foster carers

Benefits of joining New Family Social

New Family Social is the UK’s peer support network for adopters and foster carers who are LGBT+. Our secure online forums are a great way to seek support and advice from others in the same situation as you. And with our members spread across the UK, there’s a wealth of events held across the country – some for all the family and some where the adults can blow off steam together. You can post anonymously, share stories or just vent to others who understand!

Our memberships for LGBT+ people are structured in three levels. Our Bronze members can access free-of-charge our tools for finding information sessions and agencies that welcome and support LGBT+ applicants. Silver members can participate in our member forums, attend members events open to that level of membership and view exclusive web content. Gold members can use our forums, attend all events and reach out to other members through our members' directory. There's also a family-finding service open to Gold members if they reach that part of the journey.

Find out more about joining New Family Social as an LGBT+ member.

Help for adoption & fostering agencies

Benefits of joining New Family Social

An agency membership means that all of your confirmed LGBT+ adopters and foster carers are entitled to free individual memberships of New Family Social, for as long as your agency maintains its agency subscription. There’s no maximum cap on the number of LGBT+ adopters/foster carers this applies to. And your existing LGBT+ adopters and foster carers can join for free as well.

An agency membership also includes:

• Access to our free family-finding service. Agencies can circulate profiles of children they are family-finding for, direct to LGBT+ adopters who’ve been approved for family-finding.
• Free promotion of your recruitment events through New Family Social’s social media channels.
• Ability to list sessions on New Family Social’s recruitment events calendar.
• Inclusion on New Family Social’s agency finder, the listing of LGBT+-friendly agencies across the UK.
• Access to New Family Social’s training courses.
• Priority access to New Family Social’s campaigns.
• You can submit articles for publication on the NFS website.
• There’s assistance with filling panel vacancies in your area.

Complete this form to find out more about joining New Family Social as a member agency.

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Family finding: information for our LGBTQ+ members

Family finding: information for staff in our adoption/fostering member agencies

Information for our LGBTQ+ members

If you’re one of our LGBTQ+ adopter members – and you’ve reached the family-finding stage – then this service may be the one that helps you find your forever family. The service lists children’s profiles submitted to New Family Social by our member agencies that are keen to reach as many potential parents for a possible match for each child. These profiles are accompanied with contact details for the child’s social worker so our members can approach them directly for consideration.

How do I access the service?

To be eligible to access the service you need to

• Be a New Family Social LGBTQ+ adopter member at Gold Level
• Be at the family-finding stage of your adoption journey (confirmed by your social worker).

If you meet both of these criteria then please contact us using this form.

What will New Family Social do?

For child protection reasons we will contact your social worker to verify that you are currently family-finding. Once confirmed we will give you access to the family-finding service, with children’s profiles appearing among the most recent postings in your forum list. You can refine the list by selecting the ‘Family Finding’ thread.

Information for staff in our adoption/fostering member agencies

Our agency members can directly promote the profiles of children they’re family-finding for to LGBTQ+ approved adopters and foster carers. Only our LGBTQ+ members who’ve been confirmed as family-finding have access to submitted profiles.

To submit profiles to the service, login to our site with your Orange Professional login, go to the "My Agency" page, and the scroll down until you reach the Family Finding service and follow the instructions.

You can select whether you want us to reach out to other agencies or our LGBTQ+ approved members.  

Equality legislation in the UK means that it's now illegal for adoption and fostering agencies to refuse to work with you because of your sexual orientation. Similarly, your gender identity should not be used as a reason to accept you as a potential adopter or foster carer.

Because there's an ongoing shortage of both potential adopters and foster carers it's highly unusual for LGBT+ people to share with us stories of discrimination they've experienced when applying to adopt or foster.

Living with HIV, or prior experience of mental health issues don't prevent you from adopting or fostering either. You will need to show that you'll have the energy and health to parent a child, but neither of these instances automatically prevent you from applying to adopt or foster. Similarly there's no upper age limit to either process, just the need to show that you can provide the parenting and care to see your child into adulthood, or for as long as it's anticipated you need to foster them for.

For more information on the requirements to adopt read this summary by First4Adoption.

For more information on the requirements to foster read this information by the Fostering Network.

Whether you provide respite care or a long-term placement all foster carers need support. The level of support a fostering agency will provide to you will vary by agency, so we strongly recommend that you explore your options with both your local authority service, independent agencies and those run by the voluntary sector. This will help you identify the agency best suited to you, the type of fostering you want to provide and the level of support you're likely to need.

Fostering in the UK is a devolved matter, so check out the links below for your specific country.

If you're fostering in England you can also read  Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards published by the Department for Education. Skip to page 44 for the support foster carers should expect.

In Scotland there's a wealth of legislation and guidance you can turn to, which is handily listed online by the Fostering Network.

For legislation and guidance in Wales, check out this list compiled by the Fostering Network.

In Northern Ireland you can read this information compiled by the Department of Health.

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Regional collaboratives

Education support

Housing support

Regional collaboratives & local authorities

In Wales the local authority adoption services work together in ‘regional collaboratives’. Some of these will be your first point of contact for adoption support. They will undertake an assessment of your adoption support needs.

In other regions it will be local authority teams that undertake this assessment.

If you adopted through a voluntary adoption agency you could also approach that agency to discuss the post adoption support services they may be able to offer.

You can find out more on the National Adoption Service website.

Education support

If you feel your child needs extra support as a result of their adoption, you have the right to have an assessment of adoption support needs. If you think your child might have special educational needs you can ask your local authority to assess these needs too.

Schools are asked to give all children adopted from care priority access. This means that your adopted child should be able to attend the school you think best meets their needs. Find out more about school admissions online.

There is also funding within the local education consortia to help your child’s school understand and meet any additional needs of your child. This is through the Pupil Deprivation Grant. 

Housing support for adopters in Wales

Adopters may have priority for council housing. If you live in council housing and claim Housing Benefit or Universal Credit while waiting for a child to move in you can also apply for funding (Discretionary Housing Payments) so that you are not penalized financially while you have an empty spare room. Find out more on the gov.uk website.

Find out more about the support available generally to adopters in Wales from the National Adoption Service.

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Education support

Source legislation

Education support for adopters in Scotland

Looked after children have the same rights to extra support in school as other children. All children who are looked after are automatically assumed to have additional support needs – unless they’re assessed and it’s decided they don’t have additional support needs at that time.

However, they may still need extra support later to cope with disruptions or upset caused by leaving a foster family, moving home or changing school. The child’s local authority must consider whether a looked after child needs a coordinated support plan.

Education, social work and staff from other agencies should work together to assess and plan the support a looked after child needs. Local authorities should have detailed policies in place on the education of looked after children to makes sure this happens. The child should be involved in planning their support and have a say in decisions about what they will learn at school and the support they need.

If a child is looked after, their home authority has responsibility for their education even if they are:

• placed in accommodation in another local authority and attending a school in that authority
• placed in a school in another local authority, for example, because school provision that meets their needs is available there.

For more information visit Enquire – the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning.

Read More: Additional support for learning: A guide for parents or carers of looked after children, Enquire

Support for two year old children

Some two-year-olds – including those who are looked after –are entitled to 600 hours a year of early learning and childcare.

Looked after children up to the age of three

Your local authority should also provide additional support for two-year-old looked after children receiving their funded hours of early learning and childcare

School-age children

Your local authority must identify whether your child has additional support needs and give them the appropriate support if they:

• attend or are registered with a school run by your authority
• receive education in another local authority school under arrangements made by your own authority
• have been placed at an independent special school or grant-aided school by your authority.

Your local authority must provide your child with ‘adequate and efficient’ additional support so that they can benefit fully from their education. The term ‘adequate and efficient’ is taken from the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. The Act focuses on individual provision directed at every child.

Find out more – The parents’ guide to additional support for learning, Enquire

Source legislation on adoption support

The Adoption Support Services and Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2009

The Adoption Support Services and Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2009: Circumstances in which adoption allowances may be paid

This page outlines the support adopters in England can access.

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Education support

Housing support

Adoption leave & pay

Adoption support plans

Prior to applying for an adoption order, an adoption support plan is drawn up between the adoptive parents and social workers. The plan outlines the support the child is expected to need in the future and how the adoptive parents will access it. As it can be more difficult to access support once the adoption order is made – with responsibility ceasing to be shared between the adoptive parents and the state, to only being the adopters’ responsibility – many New Family Social members find it useful to delay applying for an adoption order until they feel their concerns and requests for support are fully reflected in the adoption support plan.

Where do I get support from?

Your local authority can advise you on possible adoption support services that may be available to you.

The local authority that places the child with you is responsible for assessing your adoption support needs for three years after the adoption order. After three years it becomes the responsibility of the local authority where you live, if they are different.

If the child has lived with you for more than three years then contact your local authority to find out what support services might be available in your area. Each local authority has an adviser responsible for the services provided by that local authority. The adoption support team in your local authority is legally obliged to assess the needs of you and your child – and will consider with you what services could be of help.

If you adopt through a voluntary adoption agency you can approach it to discuss what post-adoption support services it provides that may help you. If necessary, your agency could help you approach your local authority if appropriate.

For more information visit First4Adoption.

Adoption Support Fund

This is funding for essential therapy services for adoptive families, as and when they need it. There's also separate funding for essential assessments that can be accessed if it is recognised that one is needed in order to better target needed therapy services - which some members find useful as this bypasses the local CAMHS (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services) provision and isn't subject to the same waiting list, which can be a matter of years. Find out more on First4Adoption.

Education support for English adopters

Pupil Premium

This is funding – £1,900 per pupil – to help education providers give extra support to all children adopted from care to help them reach their potential. Visit First4Adoption for more information on how to help your child’s school access Pupil Premium.

Early Years Pupil Premium: Pre-school support funding

This is additional funding for early years pre-school settings to improve the education they provide for disadvantaged 3- and 4 year-olds including – but not restricted to – those adopted from care.

The funding goes directly to registered early years providers – including pre-schools, nurseries and childminders – that offer children free early education entitlement. Find out more on the First4Adoption website.

Priority access to school places

Adopted children living in England have priority access to schools, so that their parents have the greatest chance to gain a place in the school that most meets their child’s needs. Find out more on gov.uk.

Free education and childcare for 2-year-olds

A child can get free early education and childcare if they’re looked after by a local council or have left care under a special guardianship order, child arrangements order or adoption order. Find out more on gov.uk.

Housing support for adopters in England

Priority housing for approved adopters

Approved adopters may be entitled to priority access to council housing . This depends on the adopter’s individual Local Authority housing policy. Make enquiries with the Housing Department in your local authority to establish what their policy is. Find out more from First4Adoption.

Discretionary housing payments

If you live in council housing and claim Housing Benefit or Universal Credit while waiting for a child to move in you can also apply for Discretionary Housing Payments so that you’re not penalised financially while you have an empty spare room. Find out more on gov.uk.

Adoption leave and pay

Employed adopters are usually entitled to adoption leave and may be entitled to adoption pay, which is a legal right if you meet the criteria. Certain employers offer a more generous scheme than the statutory one, but no employer can offer less than the statutory amounts.

Read First4Adoption for a handy summary of the rules and entitlements for adopters arranging adoption leave and pay.

'To make sure that staff who adopt are treated as equally as staff who need time off for antenatal appointments, you can get paid time off work to attend five adoption appointments after you’ve been matched with a child. You will qualify for this paid time off if you qualify for statutory adoption leave. Your pay for these appointments should be at your normal salary rate and the time off shouldn’t be deducted from your adoption leave.

'If you don’t qualify for statutory adoption leave because your partner will take it – only one person in a couple can take adoption leave – you can still take time off work to attend two adoption appointments. The time off for these two appointments will be unpaid – unless your employer chooses to offer them as paid time off – to mirror the situation with a pregnant couple, where the pregnant woman’s partner is entitled to unpaid leave for two antenatal appointments.'