Become an evolve foster parent

We promise to support

Children don't choose to come into care.

But you could choose to foster.
Deciding to foster is a huge decision and not one to be taken lightly.

The team at evolve have decades of experience so will be able to answer any questions you may have about becoming a foster parent.

The process is nothing to fear. It takes between 16-20 weeks as we need to make sure all legal requirements are met and that your fostering assessment is completed to our high standard.

Register your interest
Send us your details and one of our experienced fostering advisors will be in touch to arrange a time for an informal chat and discuss your next steps.

Information about fostering

What is fostering?

Fostering is when a care is provided for a child when this cannot be provided by their biological family. Foster care ensures children have family-based care until they can return to their family or find a permanent home.

Why do children come into care?

Children enter care when their family are unable to provide a safe environment. There are a number of reasons why a child might enter care including their parent passing away, if a parent is seriously ill, neglect or abuse.

What are the different types of fostering

There are many types of fostering including long term, short term, respite or parent and child.

Fostering with evolve

With evolve, you will receive comprehensive training and development opportunities. You will also have an experienced foster parent peer mentor and a Supervising Social Worker who has a protected caseload of no more than 7 families.

Not all children and young people referred require a therapeutic approach but as a new foster parent you will be required to attend our 12 week therapeutic re-parenting programme (undertaken over 3 sessions in for months.)

In addition to our therapeutic approaches we also provide parent and child and other fostering arrangements. As all children in care will have experienced trauma, and irrelevant of the type of fostering you provide, you are required to understand the therapeutic approaches and how we apply them.

For more information about our therapeutic offering, visit our page here:

evolve Therapeutic Services

Types of fostering
You can choose a type of fostering that suits you and your family. Below are the types of fostering we offer at evolve.

Long-term

Long-term fostering is where a child will live for you until they are able to live independently.

Short-term

Short-term fostering is where a child will live with you for a set period of time, usually between 3 months and 2 years, whilst they are waiting a more permanent home.

Respite

Respite fostering is shorter-term fostering, for example a weekend a month or during school holidays. This is not emergency fostering as it is usually planned in advance.

Parent and child

Parent and Child fostering is a specialist type of fostering where one or both parents and their child live with a foster family and are supported and guided in parenting skills. The aim is to share the skills necessary for the parent and child to then move on to live independently and safely, keeping them together.

evolve's application process

Step 1- Talk to us

Get in touch with evolve with us via our website, social media or phone number to register your interest. A member of our team will call you back within 24 hours to discuss your interest. We will answer any questions you may have.

Step 2- Your home visit

After the initial call, and if evolve and you wish to proceed, we will organise a visit to your home to talk about fostering with evolve so you can get to know more about fostering and the support you'll receive from evolve.

Step 3- your application

The next step is to complete our application form and provide the relevant information for your checks and references. We will help you complete this and answer any questions you may have.

Step 4- your assessment

A skilled and experienced Social Worker will visit you on a number of occasions to complete a fostering assessment (referred to as a Form F), and explore your experiences, skills, preferences and to discuss any further questions.

Step 5- skills to foster training

You will be required to attend a specialist training to better understand fostering with evolve and our therapeutic model. You will also be required to undertake a range of online training during your assessment.

Step 6- Panel

When your assessment and checks are completed, we will be ready to present you to our fostering panel in terms of decision-making around approval.

Step 7- Approval

If the fostering panel recommend approval and this is confirmed by the Agency Decision Maker, you will then be required to sign a foster care agreement. You will then be allocated your Supervising Social Worker, complete a comprehensive induction and evolve will start to discuss your profile with Local Authorities that are looking for suitable fostering arrangements. evolve will be with you every step of the way.

Benefits of working with evolve

We have over 40 years worth of experience in fostering and have established a service that is bespoke, current and evidence-based to ensure the needs of the children in our care are met efficiently and effectively.

Even though foster parents are self-employed, you will receive an unrivalled fostering allowance as well as other benefits.

To see our full list of benefits, visit our page by clicking the link below.
Allowances, recognition and rewards

Apply to become a foster parent with evolve
Apply now