🌈Fostering with pride

Yes, absolutely you can, as long as you meet the standard criteria and can provide a caring and stable home, whether you are single or a couple, we are looking forward to talking to you.

Foster carers come from diverse backgrounds with different life experiences, skills and qualities to meet the unique needs of children and young people in care.

You can apply to foster:

* regardless of sexuality, gender, culture, ethnicity or religion

* if you want to continue to work, depending on the type of fostering you want to do; and the needs of the children you care for;

* if you are over 25 years old and in physically/mental able to care for a child in care.

• Foster for Bradford is proud to be an inclusive, welcoming and supporting fostering agency, dedicated to helping all our carers succeed.
• We work in partnership with New Family Social, the UK’s leading charity supporting LGBTQ+ foster carers and adopters.
• We provide training and support based in Bradford from the start of your fostering journey and continue throughout your fostering career.
• You’ll have your own Fostering Social Worker who provides monthly supervision (in your first year), regular local support groups across the Bradford district and a buddy if you would like one.
• We provide an induction programme that starts with preparation to become a foster carer during your assessment and after your approval during your first year as a foster carer, you will be supported to develop your fostering skills and understanding of being part of the team around the children you will be caring for.
• We offer therapeutic support via our specialist therapeutic support officer
• You will be able to develop your skills as a foster carer and progress through our training pathway and your personal development plan.
• You could join one of our Mockingbird hubs – an extended family-style support system of up to 10 foster families.
• If you have children, we support them too, helping to prepare them to be part of a fostering family and then afterwards we run a support group for adopted and birth children.
• We have an extensive enrichment programme of activities and events for children, young people and foster families.

As a foster carer, you’ll get a weekly allowance for each child you care for and a weekly payment based on your skills and the number of children you care for. For example, if you are a new relatively inexperienced foster carer, looking after 2 children, one aged 4 and one aged 10, you could be up to £623.10 . For more information, go to Money Matters.

To help with costs, we also pay foster carers:

• a generous mileage allowance
• a setting up fee for furniture and equipment
• 2 weeks’ summer holiday allowance per child
• 1 week’s additional allowance for birthdays
• 1 week’s additional allowance for religious holiday/Christmas
• initial clothing and school uniform allowances
• 12 weeks’ retainer payments in between the placements of children