Mother and Baby Fostering – Why You Should Consider It!

Are you already a foster carer looking for a new independent fostering agency and a new challenge? Or, are you completely new to fostering and particularly interested in fostering babies and very young children? Then, mother and baby foster care could be the perfect career option for you! 

Mother and baby fostering allows you to look after a baby or a young toddler alongside their mother (or sometimes father). In cases like these, social services have decided that the baby should stay with their parent while learning valuable skills about caring for the child. This is where a foster parent comes in. 

Their main aim during the placement is to provide all the support, advice, and guidance that the parent needs to learn the parenting and life skills they require to care for a child fully. This involves physical care, emotional care, education, and lifestyle! 

Foster parents must support the parent in every way they can so that they have the skills they need to be a great parent. We know that looking after a child is more than just forming a bond. It involves managing money and budgets, running a home, cooking, and all the minor but essential skills that parents are expected to know! 

That’s why mother and baby fostering can be a challenge, as it involves more than just caring for and ensuring a child is looked after. You also have a responsibility towards the parent to act as a role model and provide them with the support they need in what can often be a very stressful and upsetting time for the parent. Often, parents who find themselves in parent and child fostering placements have not had good role models themselves in their own early life. Accordingly, it means that it can be hard for them to form strong bonds with the child and know what is expected of them in nurturing and creating a safe and secure home for their child. 

Parent and child fostering offers them a lifeline where they can learn these skills and help improve their chances of remaining together as a family in the future. In this way, many of our carers find that the role is one of the most rewarding in terms of job satisfaction – as they know that their work is helping to keep a family together. 

As this is a specialist type of care with higher demands on the foster parent, we provide detailed and thorough training for carers who wish to undertake this role. Our training course is designed to give you the confidence and background you need to take on the challenge of the role and conduct a fair and honest assessment of the parent’s suitability to care for their child. 

Do you want to find out more about mother and baby fostering? These carers are paid a higher fostering allowance due to the more advanced skills needed for the role. Please speak to our fostering advisors to find out more detail about this role by clicking here.