Fostering means offering a safe and stable home to a baby, child or young person who can’t live with their birth family. At Wholistic Fostering, we support our carers every step of the way with training, guidance, and a regular allowance. More importantly, we work together to meet the unique cultural and emotional needs of children, especially those from African and Caribbean backgrounds.
Fostering means offering a safe and loving home for children or young people who cannot live with their birth families. This care can be for just a few days or for several years, depending on the child’s needs.
At Wholistic Fostering, we specialise in supporting children with African and Caribbean heritage, ensuring their cultural needs are met alongside their care and wellbeing.
When a child can’t live at home, local authorities work with fostering agencies like ours to find the right carers. Foster carers undergo careful assessments and training to prepare for this important role.
We provide ongoing support and a weekly allowance to help foster carers give children the best possible care.
Fostering includes a range of placements, such as:
Emergency care for immediate, short-term needs
Short-term placements while longer-term plans are made
Long-term fostering when a child needs a permanent home
Parent and child placements to help young parents develop skills
Foster carers provide a stable, supportive home where children feel safe and valued. They help with daily routines, school, and social activities to build confidence and wellbeing.
Carers collaborate closely with social workers, healthcare staff, and teachers to follow the child’s care plan and meet their needs.
Foster carers speak up for the child in meetings and appointments, ensuring their voice is heard and their rights respected.
Carers keep simple records of the child’s progress and wellbeing. They also help maintain safe contact with birth families when this is in the child’s best interests.
Some children have additional needs or face challenges. Foster carers receive specialist training and ongoing support to meet these needs effectively.
When a child can’t be cared for safely at home, the local authority steps in to make sure they get the care and support they need. In many cases, this means placing them with a foster family — someone who can give them stability, warmth, and security.
Fostering placements can last for a few days, months, or even years. The aim is always to provide the best possible outcome for the child. Sometimes that means supporting them to return to their birth family; other times it means caring for them until they reach adulthood.
At Wholistic Fostering, we work closely with local authorities to match children and young people — especially those of African or Caribbean heritage — with carers who can meet their cultural, emotional, and developmental needs.
Fostering is a shared effort. Many people and organisations work together to make sure each child in care has the support they deserve.
Here’s a quick look at who’s involved:
They hold overall responsibility for children in care, and decide when a child needs fostering. They make legal decisions on the child’s behalf and work with fostering agencies to find suitable carers.
We recruit, assess, train and support foster carers. We also help local authorities by finding the right families for the children they are responsible for. As a specialist agency, we focus on children with African and Caribbean backgrounds, ensuring their culture and identity are truly valued.
Foster carers provide the day-to-day care and emotional support that children need. They don’t have legal parental responsibility, but they do play a key role in helping children feel safe, valued and hopeful about the future. We support our carers every step of the way with training, guidance, and a fostering allowance.
Social workers are assigned to each child. They help plan the child’s care and make sure they’re doing well in their placement. They’re also in regular contact with foster carers to offer guidance and support.
OFSTED inspects fostering agencies to make sure they meet national standards. Their oversight helps ensure all children in foster care are protected and supported.
Where it’s safe and appropriate, children in care will stay in contact with their family — whether through regular visits or phone calls. Sometimes, foster care is short-term while the family gets the help they need. In other cases, carers support both the parent and the child through specialist placements like parent-and-child fostering.
Children and young people come into foster care for many different reasons. Each situation is unique — and it’s never as simple as assuming blame or labelling children as "difficult". Sometimes families face challenges they can’t manage on their own, and fostering offers a chance to bring stability and safety during uncertain times.
Here are three common reasons why children might need a foster family:
Many families go through tough periods. Parents may be unwell, facing a crisis, or dealing with circumstances that make it hard to care for their child for a while.
Common challenges include:
Mental health struggles or emotional distress
Physical health conditions or hospital stays
Relationship breakdown or family conflict
Learning difficulties or temporary inability to cope
Problems with alcohol or substance misuse
In these cases, fostering can offer children a supportive home while things are resolved at home.
In some cases, children need to be removed from their home for their own protection. This might be due to neglect, abuse, or unsafe environments.
These situations can involve:
Physical or emotional harm
Sexual abuse or exploitation
Chronic neglect of the child’s basic needs
Exposure to domestic violence or unsafe behaviour
Fostering offers a secure, nurturing place where children can begin to heal, with specialist support if needed. At Wholistic Fostering, we’re especially sensitive to how trauma may affect children from African or Caribbean heritage and we train our carers to meet these needs with cultural awareness and care.
Sometimes, families who care for a child with disabilities or complex needs need a short break to rest and recover. This is called respite care — and it plays a vital role in helping families stay strong.
Types of needs may include:
Learning disabilities
Long-term medical conditions
Physical disabilities
Behavioural or emotional challenges
Only foster carers with the right training and support are matched for these types of placements. We work closely with carers to make sure they feel confident and prepared, every step of the way.
