Fostering and adoption are very different, although people often confuse the two.
What is foster care?
Foster carers provide children with a safe place to stay when they cannot live in their own family home. They also facilitate and support visits and contact with the foster child’s own family.
As a Foster parent you do not have parental responsibility for your foster child. Any legal decision-making for the child is shared by the local authority and birth parents.
Diagrama Fostering’s expert social workers are available to explain everything involved in foster care. Book a call and speak to our team to find out more.
What is adoption?
When you adopt a child, you become their parent. It’s a lifelong commitment like all parenthood.
You provide the child with a new, permanent home and family. They will receive an adoption certificate, and you will take on all parental legal responsibilities and rights for your adoptive child.
Our sister agency Diagrama Adoption has a specialist team on hand to explain the adoption process. They can discuss any questions you might have.
Fostering for Adoption
If you are not yet a foster carer and want to commit to caring for a child and providing them with a permanent, loving home and family, then Fostering for Adoption might be an option for you.
This is a government initiative bringing together fostering and adoption. It aims to place babies and young children with families who are approved as adopters first but will initially foster with the hope of being able to adopt the child or children at a later stage.
This provides young children with stability and aims to prevent them from being moved around between homes. Allowing them to form close, nurturing emotional bonds with the adults who are caring for them from a young age.
Find out more about becoming a foster carer
Starting a fostering or adoption journey is a big decision for you and your household, with many factors to take into consideration, naturally you will have lots of questions. We've put everything you need to know into one handy information booklet for you to download here or book a call and speak to our team today. Alternatively you can download our booklet it contains everything you need to know about making a difference to a child’s life through fostering.
Diagrama’s fostering support is available across London, Kent, Surrey, Medway, and East Sussex.