Every child deserves a safe, loving home where they feel secure, valued and supported. Fostering can be one of the most impactful ways to provide that stability.
But fostering isn’t one fixed journey. Children have different needs and care plans which means there are different types of fostering available – all of which will suit different households, lifestyles and levels of commitment. Whether you can offer a night, a weekend or a long-term home, there’s a place for you in fostering.
At Foster Wales Swansea, we’ll help you explore the options to find out what feels right for you, guide you through the process, and stay by your side every step of the way.
mainstream fostering: flexibility that fits real life
Many carers start with mainstream fostering. It’s flexible and varied – offering a safe, welcoming home for anything from a single night to several months, and sometimes a child’s whole journey to adulthood.
As a mainstream foster carer, you may:
- Care for children of different ages
- Support siblings to stay together
- Help children maintain relationships with their birth families
- Provide guidance to teenagers preparing for independence
- Choose to look after children with additional needs – whether physical, emotional or behavioural.
- Support families to stay together
emergency foster care: providing immediate safety
This is where a baby, child or young person must leave their home immediately because it’s no longer safe for them to stay there.
These types of placements last just a night or two while longer‑term plans are made – whether that’s returning home or moving to another foster family. Occasionally, these stays may last a little longer depending on the child’s situation and the support they need.
What matters most is the reassurance you offer. Children may arrive frightened, confused, or with nothing but the clothes they’re wearing. A calm, warm home can make all the difference.
Emergency fostering is something that carers do in additional to the other types of fostering.
respite fostering: supporting other foster families
This is where carers offer short breaks for children whose foster carers need time to rest, reset, or gather support.
This can include:
- Weekend stays
- School holiday support
- Regular overnight care
By providing respite, you’re giving foster carers the breathing space they need so they can continue offering the best possible care. At the same time, you’re giving a child a warm, welcoming “home‑away‑from‑home” where they can feel safe and thrive.
Because a child’s wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do, it’s important that – when respite is needed regularly – we match them with the same carer each time. This helps them build trust, maintain routines, and feel secure. It also expands their circle of support, giving them an extended fostering family they can rely on.
short-term fostering: stability during uncertain times
This involves providing temporary care while decisions are made about a child’s future.
Placements can last from a few days to several months or, in some cases, up to two years. During this time, your role is to offer stability, routine and emotional support.
You’ll help children:
- Adjust to a new environment
- Maintain relationships with important people
- Feel safe and reassured during uncertainty
This type of fostering acts as a bridge to a child’s next chapter. Your home becomes their anchor. It offers comfort and consistency at a time when they need it most, giving them a steady hand to hold when everything else feels uncertain.
Short‑term fostering can be a great option if you’re looking for flexibility or if you have other commitments but still want to make a real difference.
long-term fostering: a stable home for the future
When children cannot safely return to their birth families, long-term fostering offers them the opportunity to grow up in a stable, supportive home.
It offers children the chance to grow up in a loving, consistent family – often until they turn 18 – and often well beyond.
Foster carers who offer these types of placements:
- Provide consistent care over several years
- Support education and personal development
- Build strong, lasting relationships
Long‑term fostering offers something precious for a child or young person: being part of another family for life. Children benefit from routine, stability and a sense of belonging. Many become fully integrated into family life, sharing everyday experiences and milestones.
For carers, it offers the chance to see a child grow, develop and thrive over time – making a lasting difference in their life.
specialist foster care
step‑down fostering: from residential care to family life
This type of fostering supports young people who are ready to move from a residential setting into family life, but who still need steady specialist support.
These young people are considered ready to thrive within a family setting, but will need help adjusting to family life, where they can experience belonging, build trust and independence, and develop stronger emotional security. They will benefit from patience, understanding and consistent care.
Children needing step‑down fostering are usually aged 11 and over and have unique strengths and individual needs that require consistent, compassionate care – often with additional support from the fostering team. A foster family can make an enormous difference, giving them the chance to settle, feel valued and continue to grow in a safe, loving home.
Step‑down fostering is a specialist role. In recognition of this, step‑down foster carers receive enhanced pay and a strengthened package of support.
supporting children with disabilities
Many children in foster care live with conditions that affect how they move through the world – from sensory or physical disabilities to learning difficulties and mobility challenges. These needs can make everyday tasks harder, and they may require extra support to feel safe, secure and able to flourish.
As a foster carer, you might:
- Support a child with physical or learning disabilities
- Support a child with a complex medication condition
- Work with healthcare professionals
These children often require a higher level of specialist care to thrive. You’ll become their advocate, helping remove barriers and ensuring their rights and needs are understood and protected.
While the role can be demanding at times, it is also incredibly rewarding. You’ll be helping a child with additional needs experience joy, confidence and independence. Watching them grow, celebrate achievements, and overcome challenges can bring immense pride and purpose.
Foster carers who look after children with disabilities receive enhanced pay and a strengthened package of support. We make sure you have all the specialist guidance, training and encouragement you need to care for some of the most vulnerable – and remarkable – children in our community.
unaccompanied asylum‑seeking children: safety in a new world
May children arrive in the UK without parents or family members, sometimes after traumatic experiences.
Local authorities work to find foster carers who can support them until they turn 18.
You’ll play a vital role in helping them to heal, learn English, rebuild trust, adjust to a new culture, understand their rights, and feel welcome.
You’ll help them navigate everyday life in a new society, practise their faith safely, reclaim their childhood, and grow in confidence.
Your support plays a crucial role in helping these young people rebuild their lives and feel part of a community again.
community & family‑based fostering
short breaks: helping families stay together
This is where children, who still live at home, have regular, planned stays with short break carers, giving families space to rest and recharge.
The carers build strong relationships with both the child and their families, helping to ease the pressures at home.
Short break carers decide when they are available, offering the flexibility to fit fostering around their own lives. Typically, carers welcome a child or sibling group into their home for at least two nights a month – often over a weekend, though sometimes during the week. In school holidays, these breaks may last a little longer, giving families the extended support they need.
This type of fostering is a great option for people who work, or for anyone who wants to make a real difference but in a more flexible, part‑time way.
These small breaks can make a huge difference and help play a vital role in helping families stay together.
parent and child fostering: supporting families to stay together
These types of placements give a parent/s and their baby (sometimes more than one child) a safe place to stay while the parent/s develops their confidence and parenting skills.
It’s a specialist type of fostering with one clear purpose: to give families the best possible chance to stay together.
During the placement, parents develop their skills in a nurturing environment while their parenting is observed and assessed to determine whether they can safely care for their child long term.
As a parent and child foster carer, you offer guidance, reassurance, patience, practical mentoring, help them build routines, bond with their baby, and learn the everyday skills needed for safe, confident parenting.
Carers also contribute to the assessment process by keeping daily observations and writing reports that help the local authority understand a parent’s ability to care for their child.
Placements usually last around 12 weeks and can be extended if needed. Despite their complexity, they are highly rewarding.
Parent and child foster carers also receive enhanced pay, benefits, and comprehensive support package.
fostering siblings – keeping precious bonds intact
Keeping brothers and sisters together means everything. When children are going through a difficult time, having their siblings beside them brings comfort, stability and a deep sense of belonging.
Siblings share history, memories, and a closeness that can help them face even the toughest moments. At a time when so much in their world may feel uncertain, staying together can be a lifeline.
Staying together:
- Reduces trauma
- Helps children settle more quickly
- Strengthens emotional wellbeing
That’s why we do everything we can to keep siblings together whenever possible.
Foster carers who can a loving and safe home to siblings play a vital role in preserving these important bonds.
kinship care: family or friends stepping in
Family and friends fostering – often known as kinship care – is when a child who can’t live with their birth parents is cared for full‑time by someone they already know and trust. This could be a grandparent, aunt, uncle, older sibling, or even a close family friend who has played an important role in their life.
This arrangement helps children:
- Stay connected to their roots
- Maintain relationships and identity
- Experience less disruption – the continuity provides comfort, stability and a feeling of security
Family and Friend carers still need to be approved by the local authority to ensure the child receives safe, consistent and nurturing care. They receive the same training and support as other foster carers.
For more detailed information, you can visit: Family and friends fostering (kinship care) – Swansea
age‑based fostering
fostering babies: providing the foundations
Foster carers who care for babies help shape their earliest experiences – the smiles, the first words, the tiny steps, and every precious milestone in between. You’ll be giving them the warmth, security, and nurture they need to grow in a healthy, loving environment.
Carers support:
- Early attachment and emotional development
- Daily care routines
- Transitions to adoption or family reunification
In most cases, you’ll welcome a newborn into your home once they are ready to leave the hospital. Many babies stay with their foster carers until adoptive parents are found, but some may later return to their birth families or move to relatives if it’s considered safe and suitable.
Because newborns and babies rely on constant care, fostering them is a full‑time commitment. One adult in the household will need to be available around the clock, meaning they won’t be able to combine fostering with external full‑time work.
Babies in foster care sleep in their foster carer’s bedroom until they are at least six months old, helping them feel safe and supported through the night. Ideally, they move into their own bedroom by around 12 months.
fostering teenagers: believing in them
Many teenagers in care have faced hardships that no young person should have to endure. Many have also taken on adult responsibilities far too early, caring for younger brothers and sisters and missing out on the carefree moments most children take for granted.
What they need most is a safe, stable home where they can finally breathe out – a place where they can rebuild trust, feel valued, and begin to believe in their future again.
Despite common assumptions, fostering teenagers can be highly rewarding. Many are independent, insightful and capable of building strong relationships.
As a foster carer, you help them:
- Develop confidence
- Build life skills
- Prepare for adulthood
Providing consistency and encouragement to a teenager can have a profound and lifelong positive impact.
helping young people transition into independence
When I’m Ready
The When I’m Ready scheme – unique to Wales – gives young people the chance to remain living with their foster carers after they turn 18.
Instead of facing the sudden pressure of adulthood alone, they can remain in the home they know and trust until age 21, or up to 25 if they are still in education.
It provides:
- Continued stability
- Emotional support
- A gradual transition into independence
For foster carers, becoming a When I’m Ready provider means stepping into a slightly different role – one that focuses on mentoring, emotional support and encouragement rather than parenting.
Weekly payments are provided to those who offer this ongoing support, and in many cases the young person also contributes financially from their income or benefits, helping them learn important budgeting skills. Foster carers also receive support from the Bays+ Service, which oversees the When I’m Ready scheme and ensures both carers and young people feel guided throughout.
At its heart, When I’m Ready is about giving young people the time, space, and support they need to grow. It’s about letting them leave home not because the calendar says they must – but because they truly feel ready.
supported lodgings
This is where ‘hosts’ offer a safe home to 16–21‑year‑olds, who are leaving care or facing homelessness, who are not quite ready to live alone. It’s more mentoring than parenting, and it helps young people build confidence and life skills while staying safe and supported. It enables young people to learn the skills they need to live independently.
Hosts offer:
- A safe home environment
- A private bedroom
- Guidance and mentoring – help young people learn essential skills like budgeting, cooking, organising their day, and managing responsibilities.
- Support in developing everyday life skills
Young people contribute towards their stay by paying rent from their own income. Most young people stay for around 6 to 12 months, although the length of time can vary depending on their needs and readiness to move on.
Being a Supported Lodgings host is ideal for someone who has a spare room and a desire to make a real difference. You don’t need to be a parent, an expert, or have special qualifications – just patience, kindness, and a willingness to guide a young person toward independence.
For more information, you can visit: Barnardo’s Swansea Supported Lodgings Service | Barnardo’s
other options
special guardianship order (sgo)
This offers children a safe, stable and long‑term home when they are unable to live with their birth parents – but it isn’t the same as fostering or adoption. It sits gently between the two, giving a child a sense of permanence while still preserving their connection to their birth family.
An SGO is made by the court and gives the special guardian parental responsibility for the child until they turn 18. This means the guardian can make the important day‑to‑day decisions about the child’s life – where they live, how they’re raised, the school they attend, and their medical care. It allows them to offer the child consistency, reassurance and a secure family life.
Unlike adoption, an SGO does not break the child’s legal ties to their birth parents. Their family relationships remain in place.
Once a Special Guardianship Order is granted, the child is no longer considered “looked after,” so the involvement of social workers usually reduces. However, the local authority can still offer support when it’s needed, ensuring the child and guardian don’t feel alone on their journey.
For the child, a Special Guardianship Order can be deeply reassuring. It provides the security of knowing where they will grow up and who will be caring for them – something every child deserves.
welsh early permanence: foster to adopt
In Wales, families now have the opportunity to care for a child through a route called Foster to Adopt, also known as Welsh Early Permanence (WEP).
Carers approved through this scheme are “dually approved” – meaning they are both foster carers and prospective adopters. This allows a child to be placed with them as early as possible.
This approach gives babies and very young children the chance to experience stability and loving care at the earliest possible stage of their lives.
Whilst a baby’s future is being considered, you are the child’s foster carer. You will be carefully assessed, trained, and supported in that role.
If the court later agrees that adoption is the right plan, the transition should be seamless. You then go from being the baby’s foster carer to being the child’s adoptive parent – offering continuity, love, and long-term security. It allows the child can remain with the people they have already bonded with and love.
Although WEP often leads to adoption, it is not guaranteed. In a small number of cases, the court may decide it is in the child’s best interest to return to their parents or move to another family member. This possibility requires carers to approach WEP with both open hearts and emotional resilience.
To find out more about Welsh Early Permanence:
- Website: home.php (adoptcymru.com)
- Phone: 0300 365 2222
- Email: [email protected]
are you looking to offer a child a forever home?
adoption – a forever home
This is when you legally become a child’s parent.
Adoption is a truly life‑changing commitment – for a child, and for the family who welcomes them. At its heart, adoption means becoming a child’s legal parent in every sense. You take on all the rights, responsibilities, love, and lifelong dedication that come with parenthood. The child takes your name. They become a full and permanent member of your family. You become their parent – not just for now, but forever.
If you’d like to learn more about adoption in Swansea or explore whether it could be the right path for you, you can contact the Western Bay Adoption Service for guidance and support.
To find out more about adoption in Swansea, contact Western Bay Adoption Service.
support you can reply on
From enquiry to placement and beyond, we’re here to walk beside you.
Our support starts from the moment you get in touch – not just once you become a foster carer.
Becoming a foster carer with us means joining a team that values, supports and stands beside you.
We believe it’s essential for foster carers to feel truly valued and respected, which is why we’re committed to providing the highest level of support. When carers feel supported, children in foster care have the best chance of brighter, more secure futures – and that’s what matters most to us.
No matter what type of fostering feels right for you, we’ll be by your side every step of the way.
Whichever type of fostering you offer, Foster Wales Swansea will provide you with:
- A dedicated supervising social worker
- Your own support worker
- An experienced local team
- Competitive fees and allowances (learn more about foster carer pay here)
- 24/7 support whenever you need it
- Access to excellent, ongoing training
- Support groups for the whole household
- Regular events and activities for foster families
For us, it’s about making sure every foster carer feels part of the Foster Wales Swansea team – all working together to create better outcomes for local children.
You’re never on this journey alone.
To explore everything we offer in more detail, read our blog here.
thinking about fostering? let’s talk.
If you’re beginning to wonder whether fostering could be part of your story, we’d love to chat with you. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need room in your home – and your heart.
Call us: 0300 555 0111
Request a call back: Use our online contact form
Change a child’s life – and your own – forever.
