Permanency fostering for children aged eight years and over 

Making a permanent commitment to a child requires: 

• careful consideration
• agreement from all family members in the home
• you to think carefully about the type of support and training you might require
• you to consider whether you would be willing to support the child in maintaining contact with their birth family 
• you to assess whether being available for fostering will affect your current income
   

Step one 

• Following the referral of a child for a permanent foster placement, a profile is compiled to reflect their individual needs. This profile is then sent to potential carers and provides basic information about the child's personality, education, emotional and physical health and behaviour.  The profile will also give details of the type of family that the child requires.
   

Step two 

• Carers who respond to the child's profile will be visited by the child's social worker, their fostering social worker, and possibly the permanency worker. This is so that a decision can be reached about which family will best match the child's/young person's needs.
   

Step three 

• Meetings will be arranged to plan introductions between the family and child and arrangements made for the child to move in.
   

Step four 

• When the child has settled in, a 'matching report' will be presented to the Fostering Panel to formalise the placement as permanent.  Foster carers, the child and the social workers involved will all attend the Panel on this day. The child is then given a certificate to say that this is their very own permanent foster family.