What is Parent and Child Fostering?

At Team Fostering, we recruit and train foster carers that are able to look after a range of children and young people, including young people who have recently had their own children.

This is a specialist type of fostering referred to across the industry as ‘Parent and Child Fostering,’ the aim of which is to provide support and guidance not only to the infant but also the parent, usually the mother. The aim is that the parent may eventually provide independent care for their child. Parent and Child Fostering is an alternative to referring young parents to live in residential units and it helps to provide the support needed at the early stages of their relationship, a very crucial time for bonding. Without this support, such relationships can often break down and this could lead to the separation of the child from the parent.

The Benefits of Parent and Child Fostering

Fostering a parent and child is not an easy task, but the rewards are huge and we have many foster carers at Team Fostering with specialist training for the role. Foster carers can help the development of a bond between parent and child, giving both a brighter future, and to see an attachment grow first-hand has been described by our foster carers as nothing short of amazing. Throughout Parent and Child Fostering, carers offer support that provides young parents with insight into the lifelong parenting skills required for looking after a child independently. This is done in a stable environment that helps keep focus on the child, with access to valuable resources that may not have been available without the fostering setup. 

In turn, the child of the young person benefits from extra support received by all, providing them with the best start in life.

As Team Fostering consider Parent and Child Fostering to be a specialist role we provide a slightly different support package for those who offer this. A higher level of one-to-one support and training will be provided to any foster carers that look after a parent and child, and higher foster carer fees are paid in comparison to some other types of fostering.