Information for people working in schools
There are an estimated 10,000 privately fostered children living in England and Wales. By law parents and carers must notify the local council. Sadly most don’t.
Reasons why children become privately fostered
- Their parent(s) have gone overseas to visit extended family
- Their parent(s) have gone away for work
- They’ve had a row with their mum and/or dad and are staying with friends
- Their parent(s) are in prison
- Their parent(s) have a long term illness or mental health problems
- They’ve been sent to the UK from overseas to stay with extended family, maybe for their education
8% of privately fostered children said they were never told why they were sent to live with strangers or distant relatives.
Private fostering is not the same as fostering
Privately fostered children are not the same as fostered children. They are not in the care of the state. So if their carers don’t tell the local council they will be without support. Although most privately foster carers do an excellent job, often stepping in when a family is in crisis, many privately fostered children experience feelings commonly associated with being separated from their birth families – loneliness, confusion and anxiety.
Signs to watch out for
- Has someone else started collecting a child from school on a regular basis?
- Has a child mentioned to you that they are staying with someone else or that their parent(s) have gone away for a long time?
- Is there something unusual or unclear in the child's administration file?
Things you can do in your school
- Make sure everyone, especially those involved in the pastoral side, are familiar with and understand the term ‘private fostering’.
- Make sure everyone in your school has seen our special film about private fostering and put up our poster in your staff room (download PDF of poster)
- Look at admission files to check on the home situation, and make a note to follow up any circumstances which are not clear.
- Speak to the families of children who might be involved in private fostering and checking they are aware of their duty to notify. If they feel this is not appropriate then pass on the details to the private fostering officer at your Local Authority and they will follow it up for you.
Help us keep children safe and support families
Schools play an essential role in identifying privately fostered children – not just teachers, but administrators, school nurses, dinner ladies and any other member of the schools staff.
How to notify
Check our notifications page to find details of your local private fostering team. All calls will be dealt with in confidence. Once you have provided the details the private fostering arrangement, the social worker will do the follow up work.
Once the private fostering social worker has established contact with the family they will run some checks on the carer and talk to the young person to make sure they are happy in the arrangement. They will also check that the accommodation is safe and suitable. Providing everything is ok the family will continue the arrangement with the social worker checking in at regular intervals to ensure everything is going smoothly.
