Every child who goes into foster care is placed on a short-term care order while legal proceedings take place to govern their future. Some children later return home while others stay with the same family in long-term foster care or are adopted.
A Safe and Nurturing Environment
Short term fostering can also provide a break for families and full-time foster carers while giving children a safe and nurturing temporary home. As a short-term foster carer, you play a vital role in providing stability and care when it’s most needed.
There are several ways you can help children thrive while in your care, even if they don’t stay with you for very long.
Provide Consistency and Structure
Children entering foster care may have experienced disruption, uncertainty and chaos. Providing a predictable daily routine with regular mealtimes, bedtimes and school drop-offs/pick-ups brings stability. Have a timetable on display so they know what’s happening and when. Keep rules and boundaries consistent yet fair. Even a child staying for only a few days benefits from structure.
Get to Know the Child
Take time to learn about their personality, interests and needs. Chat to them, look at their file and talk to their social worker. Understanding what makes them tick, their talents and their challenges will help you bond and support them better. Listen attentively when they open up. Build trust by demonstrating you care about them as a person.
Make Them Feel Welcome and Comfortable
Foster children must have their own bedroom. From the start, make their bedroom and personal space comfortable with bedding and storage for belongings so that they feel welcome and can settle in. Give a home tour and explain house rules and routines. Introduce them to family pets. Provide favourite foods and activities. Ask about comfort objects, bedtime routines or fear of the dark so you can make them feel secure.
Include and Engage Them
Help children feel involved in the household by giving age-appropriate tasks like laying the table or feeding a pet. Find common interests and share activities they enjoy like reading, sports or baking. Take them to local parks, museums and events. Ask for their input on meals, TV shows or weekend plans. Make time for games, stories and chats. Even when stays are brief, they’ll feel valued.
Reassure Them
Reassurance is critical. Give plenty of verbal affirmation. Reassure children they are safe now, it’s not their fault they are in care, they will see family/carers again (if appropriate) and people care about them. Emphasise that your home is a secure and caring temporary base.
Say Positive Goodbyes
When placements end, thoughtfully managed goodbyes help provide closure. If you click, stay in touch via your agency. Exchange memorable keepsakes. Share photos taken together. Assure them it’s okay to feel sad. Say you enjoyed meeting them and will remember them. Wave as they leave. Positively closing this chapter can aid their resilience.
While their stay may be brief, your warmth, care and reassurance can have a lasting impact, helping short-term fostered children thrive.
