Become a Foster Carer

Are Foster Parents Paid?

We ask you to look at Fostering as a full-time career so it’s vital that you are paid for your time - to cover the cost of caring for a child or young person on a day-to-day basis as well as a professional fee for your work. This means you will be able to commit to being a Foster Parent full-time, whilst working from the comfort of your own home. You may still work, if your work allows you to be flexible in order to meet the needs of any child that you may look after (ie to leave early to collect a sick child from school or attend an important meeting with school or their Local Authority Social Worker).

Pay varies according to the type of Fostering that you undertake; the age of the child; and their specific needs. We provide a higher professional fee for those Foster Parents looking after children or young people who require more specialised care and support, such as caring for a child with autism, a disability, specialist behaviours; or a Parent & Child Fostering arrangement.

Like any career, you’ll have access to thorough and ongoing training and the opportunity to work towards promotion and higher pay grades with our development programme and therapeutic accreditation. By the Bridge with Cambian is a Therapeutic Fostering agency which means that we train all our Foster Parents in ‘Therapeutic Parenting’, enriching them with the lifelong skills and techniques to understand children’s behaviours and help those young people to come to terms with the trauma that they have faced and regulate their behaviours themselves.

As well as generous (often tax-free) weekly allowance and fee, you’ll also be entitled to the following benefits:

FosterTalk & Fostering Network Membership

You’ll receive free membership to FosterTalk & the Fostering Network which provide a range of benefits to its members, including: free advice around tax, finance, counselling, education, personal issues; as well as a range of exclusive discounts, on a variety of high street products, family activities and services - from insurance to theme park tickets and holidays.

Long Service Rewards

As a ‘Thank you’ for your hard work and dedication to Fostering, our Foster Parents receive Red Letter experience days and spending money as a little reward for everything that they do.

Refer a Friend Scheme

Do you know someone who Fosters already or who you think would make a great Foster Parent? We’ll reward you up to £2,000 for referring a friend or family member who goes onto successfully foster with By the Bridge. 

Respite

While we do encourage all our Foster Parents to ensure that they holiday as a family, we offer a maximum of 21 nights respite per Fostered child or young person. You can utilise our large pool of experienced on call Respite Foster Parents to step into your shoes for a short period or in an emergency; or ask your own friends and family to step in whilst you take a break. If you do not use these ‘respite’ days, up to 14 days may be re-claimed if it goes unused. Many of our Foster Families use this ‘buy-back scheme’ to fund another holiday all together which is a great idea!

Extra Work

As well as Fostering, you can also use your skills and knowledge to do some extra work with us, whether that be supervising approved family visits between a Fostered child and their birth families, or acting as an ‘Appropriate Adult’ for a child who is in trouble.

Fostered Children and Family Events

We host a number of events throughout the year for you, and your family. These are all organised and paid for by us and include summer fun days, craft afternoons, trips to theme parks and festivals to ensure there are always things for you to do. It’s a great way to build new and existing relationships and allow all the children to socialise with other Fostering families.

Want to begin your journey to becoming a Foster Carer? Then Contact Us today for more information.