Your questions, answered

Almost anyone. You need to be over 21, a UK resident, have a spare bedroom, and be willing to be assessed and trained. We welcome single people, couples, married, civil partnerships, cohabiting, separated, divorced, working, retired, homeowners and tenants. Sexuality, race, religion and disability are never barriers.

Yes. Foster children should have their own bedroom, unless they are siblings who can safely share. Safeguarding for every child in the home guides the decision.

No. We've approved carers in their sixties and seventies. What matters is your health, energy, and capacity to commit to a child. Your GP will assess your medical fitness as part of the process.

Absolutely. Many of our best carers have raised, or are raising, their own children. We'll talk to everyone in the household about what fostering will mean. If you have a baby, or you've never had children of your own, that's no barrier either; matching and training are tailored to your family.

You can apply if you have full-time residency in the UK. We need foster carers from every avenue of life, and consideration can be given to people in the UK for a time-limited period.

Yes. Fostering is about your personal strengths, attributes and qualities, and what these offer a child, never your gender or sexual orientation. We welcome and are proud of our LGBTQI carers, and the assessment process is identical for everyone.

A long-term health condition or a history of depression doesn't prevent you from fostering. Your health is considered as part of the assessment, with a medical, your GP's recommendation and a conversation with the fostering team. The focus is on you being physically and psychologically well enough for the demands fostering may bring, which can vary with the age of child you wish to foster.

You need to be available for meetings with social services, school and contact arrangements, just as you would for your own child. Not working, working flexibly or working from home all fit really well with fostering. And yes, you can foster if you're unemployed or retired; your supervising social worker will talk through any benefit implications, and there usually aren't any.

Yes, no problem at all. We'd simply clear it with your landlord to make sure they have no objection.

Yes. We consider all pets during the assessment to make sure there's no risk to either the animal or the child.

Not necessarily. Life experience matters more. If you've been a teacher, a youth worker, a parent, a babysitter, a children's club volunteer, you're already drawing on relevant skills. Our training fills the gaps.

Allowances run between £450 and £800 per child per week, reflecting the age and background of the children. Seasonal allowances, a birthday allowance and a £500 annual household bonus come on top. See what that adds up to over a year.

The allowance has two parts: a maintenance element (food, clothing, activities, pocket money for the child) and a fee element (paid to you as a foster carer). Birthdays, festivals and school uniforms come with additional payments.

Most carers pay no tax on fostering income because of generous HMRC reliefs. Foster Talk membership (included free) provides specialist tax advice when you need it.

Foster carer income is generally disregarded for means-tested benefits, but rules vary. Foster Talk includes benefits advice as part of your membership.

Before approval, you complete the Skills to Foster course. In your first year, you complete the Training Hub mandatory training (safeguarding, attachment, first aid and more). Ongoing training continues throughout your fostering career.

Yes. Our advice line is answered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Christmas Day, 3am, bank holidays. Whenever you need someone, we're there.

Dyadic Developmental Practice (DDP) is a therapeutic approach created by Dr Dan Hughes for parenting children who've experienced trauma. PACE stands for Playful, Accepting, Curious and Empathic. It's a way of being with children that builds connection and trust.

Yes. Every approved carer has a dedicated supervising social worker who visits every 4-6 weeks and is your main point of contact within the agency.

Short Breaks (respite care) can be arranged so you can take a holiday. Sometimes children come with you. If they don't, we'll arrange for them to stay with another Embrace carer or use your own approved support network.

We place children aged 0 to 18, with the option to continue post-18 under Staying Put arrangements. You'll work with your supervising social worker to identify the age range and needs that suit your family.

Yes. We work to a matching process. We'll share information about a potential child or sibling group, and you can decide whether to proceed. If you say no, that's fine. We'll continue looking.

We work hard to get as much information as possible and share it with you before you accept a placement. With emergency placements, sometimes very little is known; in those cases we may offer a 48-hour assessment placement with a review, so everyone can see whether it's going to work.

Most fostered children have some form of contact with their birth family. We support carers to make this work safely, whether it's supervised contact, telephone contact, or letterbox communication.

It happens. Sometimes the match isn't right. Sometimes circumstances change. We work hard to make every placement succeed, but if it ends, we'll support you through what's next and reflect on what we've learnt.

Allow around 8 months from the very start of your application to approval at panel, depending on your availability and circumstances. The Form F assessment itself usually completes within 8 weeks. See our full assessment process.

No. We have carers across Staffordshire, Cheshire, Manchester, the West Midlands, East Midlands and Yorkshire. Our office is in Worksop but our team covers a wide area.

Yes. Transfers are usually quicker than new applications because much of your background has already been assessed. Get in touch for a confidential chat.

Yes. Fostering is a temporary, often legal arrangement where the local authority retains parental responsibility. Adoption is permanent and transfers parental responsibility to the adopter. Some children move from foster care into adoption.