Types of fostering: short-term, long-term and specialist care

Fostering covers everything from a few nights to many years, and from a baby with their mum to a teenager waiting for a court date. Each guide below explains what that kind of fostering involves day to day and what support comes with it.

How long a child stays

• Short-Term and Long-Term Fostering: What Is the Difference?
• Staying Put: What Happens When a Young Person Turns 18?
• Continuing Care Explained: What It Means for Foster Carers in England

Specialist fostering

• What Is Parent and Child Fostering? A Guide to This Specialist Role
• Remand Fostering Explained: Caring for a Young Person Awaiting Court
• What Therapeutic Fostering Actually Means
• Fostering a Child With a Disability or Additional Needs

Older children and young people

• Fostering a Teenager: What It’s Really Like
• Fostering an Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Child: What It Really Involves