Step 2 - Initial Home Visit
Your Initial Home Visit
Once you submit your enquiry regarding becoming a foster carer with us, we will get in touch with you to arrange a no obligation Initial Home Visit.
Lets Get to Know Each Other..
Your Initial Home Visit helps us get to know you, and likewise, you to know us! Soon after your initial enquiry, one of our Assessing Social Workers will contact you to arrange a time to meet with you and your family at your family home.
Initial Home Visits provide you with the opportunity to find out more about fostering with us, including the type of support we’ll offer you, and the various training opportunities we provide. Your Initial Home Visit means you can ask the Assessing Social Worker any questions you have about fostering, Tutis and everything in between.
Your Initial Home Visit also helps us to get to know more about you and your family, and what you can bring to the fostering role. We want to make sure that a foster child will be safe, comfortable and have everything they need while living with you.
What to Expect From the Visit
The idea of an Initial Home Visit may feel a little intrusive and somewhat daunting, but we’ll do our very best to make you feel comfortable and at ease throughout. During your Initial Home Visit, the Assessing Social Worker will ask you about various things to do with your interest in fostering .
They’ll likely talk to you about:
Your motivation to foster
How Fostering will affect your family, and the support network you have around you
Any relevant skills or experiences you might have that may benefit you as a foster carer
The different types of fostering placements available, what they are and why they are different
The application process, what is involved, the timescales for assessment and any other questions you may have
They’ll also ask you to give them a tour of your home, including the spare bedroom you intend to use for fostering and any outdoor spaces.
There’s plenty to talk about during your initial home visit. We want to make sure you have the answers to all your questions and come away with a deeper understanding of the role of a foster carer and everything it involves.
Your initial home visit should take around 2 hours in total. To make the process as easy and quick as possible, we ask that you have your ID documents to hand when we visit. The Assessing Social Worker will tell you more about the ID documentation we require when they get in touch.
Whats Happens Next?
Following your Initial Home Visit, the person who conducted your visit will take all the information they have taken from you, and write a short report about you, your support network, home and your reasons for wanting to foster. This report will be discussed with the Registered Manager once this is done, and we have made a decision on whether we feel fostering is right for your current circumstances, we will get back in touch with you to discuss your application further.
We’ll let you know if you have a successful Initial Home Visit meaning you’ll move on to the next part of our assessment process
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