Training you

You’re expected to develop your skills and knowledge about fostering. You’ll have regular supervision sessions to guide and support you and allow you to talk through your training needs.

We provide extensive training to help develop the skills and knowledge that you need. All training provided to you by Action for Children Fostering is free of charge and either online or at a venue local to you.

When you become an approved foster carer with Action for Children Fostering, we’ll create an annual training plan with you. As well as mandatory training, we’ll offer you ongoing training depending on your needs and the needs of your young person.

Induction:

Your comprehensive induction with Action for Children Fostering will cover:

• Policies and legislation.
• Our philosophy of care and aspiration for children and young people.
• An introduction to our therapeutic approach to foster care.
• Expectations we have for our foster carers.

Your induction will also include training and workshops, reading, research and discussions in supervision.

Some optional further free resources for foster carers include:

• Free online courses at Open University, including modules on attachment, childhood in the digital age, child psychology and more.
• Online safety resources from ThinkUKnow.
• Advice on young people’s mental health from MindEd.

Skills to Foster course

• This is usually a three-day course either in person or online that gives you a good introduction to fostering and everything involved. It will provide with you a better understanding of what your role as a foster carer requires, the experiences and needs of children in care, and the behaviours you may be required to manage. It will also cover the teams and other professionals who all work together and the day-to-day skills that all carers need.

Therapeutic approach

• All of our carers are trained in attachment and developmental trauma and therapeutic parenting approaches.
• Find out more about our therapeutic approach
• Find out more about England's unique therapeutic framework (HOMES)

Safeguarding

• Training sessions cover the essentials, like child safety and development, as well as policies and procedures. We also run specialist training and explain some of the issues young people deal with, including bullying on social media and gang culture. You’ll get ideas, resources, and tools to help you. You’ll be trained in first aid, health & safety, and receive comprehensive training on understanding the behaviours and needs of children in care.

Action for Children Fostering has developed a framework for ongoing training to support our foster carers in the amazing work they do. The children in your care often have complex needs due to their life experiences. We have all the training opportunities you will need to effectively manage any challenging situation you may face.

Our framework recognises that fostering is a profession. We will encourage, support, and train you on an individual basis to gain the level of skills you need to be the foster carer you want to be.

Our framework begins at pre-approval stage with our ‘Starting to Foster’ training and then takes you through the core modules required to foster. When you are ready, we will plan and arrange advanced training in areas specific to your type of fostering and the children you care for.