Effective matching is important for children’s future life chances because it can make a real difference to their well-being, relationships, and education. Give a child the right family environment and they are much more likely to flourish.
Effective matching isn’t just for the children – effective matching plays a critical role in foster parent’s well-being and retention too. Making competent decisions when matching children with foster parents can lessen the likelihood of the placement breaking down.
If we think a Young Persons information is well matched to an available foster parent, we will discuss this with their supervising social worker. At this stage it gives us the opportunity to request additional information from the local authority to further assist with the match.
Once the supervising social worker agrees, it’s then time to discuss the referral with the foster parent, the referral is also shared so they can ensure they have read all the information. It is then entirely the decision of the foster family whether they agree to put themselves forward.
Once everyone is happy with the match, we then formally submit an offer to the local authority. Offers are usually sent via email and will include:
- A family profile.
- Your form F.
- Costings for the placement
- Contact details for the social worker.
After that has been sent, we will follow up every few days for an update. Most placements are required within a couple of days, so if we don’t hear back within a week or two it’s unlikely, we will at all. We endeavour to follow up on referrals offered on and feed back to foster parent when able to.