Practical guidance for real fostering life.

Grief in a fostering home rarely arrives when you expect it, or in the shape you expect. Here is what actually helps a bereaved child, what the five stages of grief get wrong, and who you can ring for free when you need more than a kind word.

Around four in ten children in care score in the range the Department for Education calls a cause for concern. A practical guide to what actually helps at home, and how to get professional support when a child needs more.

Behaviour is what most people worry about before they enquire about fostering. Here is what actually helps: staying calm in the moment, the quiet work you do beforehand, what a fair consequence looks like, and where the legal lines sit.

“Continuing care” means two different things depending on where you are in the UK, and carers get caught out by it all the time. Here is what it means in England, how the NHS assessment works, and what happens when a young person turns 18.

Most carers who look after a child with a disability began with no clinical background at all. Here is what the day-to-day really involves, who else is on the team around the child, and what Greater London Fostering pays.

Roughly one child in four in care in England comes from a minority ethnic background, and in London the mix is wider still. Here is what the law asks of foster carers, the practical detail on food, faith, hair and skin, and how to respond when a child meets racism.

Getting a young person ready to leave care is the part of fostering carers say they felt least prepared for. Here is what the leaving care system in England sets up and when, what money a care leaver is actually entitled to, and the everyday things that make the biggest difference.

Moves are the part of fostering carers ask about most. An honest look at what happens when a child arrives, what to protect when they move on, and the support GLF puts around you at both ends.