How long does it take to become a foster carer?

The short answer: about six months to a year

For most people, becoming a foster carer takes somewhere between six months and a year from the first enquiry to approval. Foster Wales, the network of council fostering services in Wales, says it can take around six months to get through the initial process. The Scottish Government's foster care campaign says approval can take six months to a year. Action for Children, a national charity that also runs a fostering service, says it usually takes around six to nine months, and that it aims to complete the assessment itself within four to six months.

In England there is also an official benchmark. Department for Education statutory guidance says a full assessment should be carried out on a timescale that lets the fostering panel make its recommendation within eight months of the applicant first applying to be assessed. That is a target for the service, not a promise, and the clock starts at the formal application rather than at your first phone call.

These figures are averages and targets. Your own timeline depends on how quickly checks and references come back, how often you can meet your assessing social worker, when the next preparation course and panel are scheduled, and whether anything in your circumstances needs looking at more closely.

Where the time goes, stage by stage

The steps are broadly the same across the UK, although the order varies between services. Some run preparation training before you apply and some during the assessment; some carry out checks and the home study side by side. A typical journey looks like this:

• Enquiry and first conversation: most services call you back within days. Foster Wales says a member of the team will usually be in touch within a few days for a chat and to arrange a home visit.
• Initial visit: a social worker visits you at home, or meets you online, to talk through your circumstances and answer questions. Action for Children says this lasts about two hours.
• Preparation training: usually a three-day course such as Skills to Foster. When you can attend depends on where you live and when the next course runs.
• Formal application: once you apply, the formal assessment begins and, in England, the eight-month target starts.
• Checks and references: a criminal record check for every adult in the household, a medical with your GP, local authority checks and personal references.
• Home study: a series of visits from an assessing social worker, written up as a report. This is usually the longest part.
• Fostering panel: an independent panel reads the report, meets you and recommends whether you should be approved.
• Decision: a senior manager at the fostering service, often called the agency decision maker, makes the final decision.

Checks, references and the medical

Checks are where waiting time often builds up, because they depend on other organisations. Foster Wales says DBS checks typically take around eight weeks to process, and longer if you have lived overseas, so it advises getting your DBS application in early. The check has a different name in each nation: a DBS check in England and Wales, a Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) check in Scotland, and an AccessNI check in Northern Ireland.

The medical is usually with your own GP, who sends a report to the fostering service's medical adviser. Foster Wales points out that timing depends on your availability and your GP's. Action for Children says it pays for the medical and asks for references from people who have known you for at least three years.

In England the checks are part of what the law calls Stage 1 of the assessment. Under the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and the statutory guidance, the service must seek this information as soon as possible. Stage 1 includes two personal references, an enhanced DBS check for each adult in the household and a check with the local authority. Once it holds all the Stage 1 information, the service has 10 working days to decide whether you can carry on. If it decides you are not suitable, it must tell you in writing with its reasons.

The home study: usually the longest part

The heart of the assessment is a series of conversations with an assessing social worker, usually at your home. In England this is Stage 2, and it is written up in a detailed report covering things such as your personality, your work, your experience of caring for children and your skills as a future foster carer. Foster Wales describes the home visits as the longest part of the process, usually taking up to six months.

Foster Wales Flintshire says it typically makes six to ten appointments to complete an assessment, each lasting at least a couple of hours and sometimes weekly. It notes that fitting these around work, family life and holidays can stretch the process, and that if you need a break the assessment can be paused and picked up again when you are ready. A big change in your life during the assessment, such as a pregnancy or bankruptcy, may mean parts of it need to be looked at again.

English law lets services run the two stages at the same time rather than one after the other, which is one way a well-organised assessment keeps to time. When the report is finished you are given a copy and have 10 working days to send your comments, which go to the panel with it.

Panel and the final decision

Once the report is complete, it goes to a fostering panel. Panels meet on a timetable, so the date of the next available panel affects how quickly you are approved. You usually attend with your social worker, who helps you prepare. The panel makes a recommendation; it does not make the decision itself.

In England, the statutory guidance says the agency decision maker must decide within seven working days of receiving the panel's recommendation through the minutes. If the service proposes not to approve you after a full Stage 2 assessment, you have 28 days to make written representations to the service or apply to the Independent Review Mechanism. A Stage 1 decision does not carry that right.

Approval is not quite the end of the wait. Many services offer an induction, and the time until your first child arrives depends on the children needing homes locally and how well they match your approval. Action for Children says it aims to match approved carers with a child as soon as possible.

What can speed things up or slow them down

Some delays are outside your control, but there is a lot you can do to keep things moving. The common causes of delay named by fostering services are slow references and GP reports, criminal record checks that take longer for people who have lived abroad, applicants and social workers struggling to find times to meet, and waiting for the next training course or panel date.

If you have fostered with another service in the last 12 months, the English guidance says a written reference from that service can replace interviews with personal referees, and sets short deadlines for passing records between services. That can shorten a transfer, although it is still a new assessment.

• Choose referees who know you well and will reply quickly, and let them know to expect contact.
• Submit your criminal record check application and book your GP medical as soon as you are asked.
• Have documents ready: identity, address history and details of past relationships and employment.
• Block out time for assessment visits and ask about training and panel dates early.
• Talk to everyone in your household, including your own children, before you start, so nobody is surprised by the questions.
• Be open from the beginning. Raising something early is far quicker than having it discovered later.

Why it is not quicker

Six months or more can feel long when you have decided you want to help. Fostering services are open about why it takes this time. Foster Wales Flintshire argues that doing it properly takes about six months, because the assessment explores your own childhood, relationships and losses, and that can be emotional. Northern Ireland's official guidance describes it as a thorough process that is necessary for the safety and welfare of any child.

The time is also for you. It gives you space to learn what fostering involves, ask questions, meet other carers and decide whether it is right for your family. You can withdraw at any stage. The best way to judge a service is not only how fast it promises to be, but how clearly it explains each step and how well it supports you through them.

Across the UK

England

Assessments follow the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and Department for Education statutory guidance: a Stage 1 decision within 10 working days of having all the Stage 1 information, a target of a panel recommendation within eight months of applying, and a decision within seven working days of the panel's recommendation. Criminal record checks are through the DBS.

Scotland

The Scottish Government's foster care campaign says approval can take six months to a year. You can start by contacting Fosterline Scotland or a local council fostering team. Preparation training usually comes before the formal application, followed by a home study, a PVG check and a fostering panel that you attend with your social worker.

Wales

Foster Wales says the process takes around six months, with the home visits the longest part. It advises sending your DBS application early because checks typically take around eight weeks.

Northern Ireland

You apply to a Health and Social Care Trust or an independent agency. nidirect says training comes first, followed by an application, a GP medical, an AccessNI check, social services checks, references and a social worker's assessment before a fostering panel. nidirect does not give a typical timescale, so ask your Trust or agency what to expect.

Common questions