What is emergency foster care?
There are situations that arise unexpectedly which mean young people need emergency care and support at short notice. Foster carers under this scheme will provide temporary emergency care to any child or young person needing a safe place to stay until a suitable home is found. Young people in this situation are dealing with uncertainty and may also be traumatised and will need extra support.
Want to know more? Find out about becoming a foster carer with Wiltshire Council.
How does the emergency foster care scheme work?
We know that supporting the needs of a child/young person who has experienced trauma will be time consuming and can be challenging therefore at least one adult within your household will need to be a full-time foster carer.
The aim is for our emergency foster carers to be available for a minimum of 14 nights a month. With this rota you'll have a child/young person staying with you for 14 nights per month followed by a rest period of up to 14 nights where you'll not have any child/young person staying with you. You'll need to be flexible as there will be times where you may need to take a child/young person in on your 2 weeks off period or they may stay longer than anticipated.
How will you be supported as an emergency foster carer?
Due to the high-level needs of our children needing emergency foster care, we provide a higher level of support plus excellent training and development programmes to our emergency foster carers. You'll also have access to our team therapists and support workers.
Generous Payments
We recognise that our emergency foster carers provide a high level of support to the children/young people in their care and therefore our generous payments reflect the level of care that's needed.
Emergency foster carers will be paid £900 per week, per child, when you have a child or young person staying with you. For the 2 weeks that you do not have a child or young person staying with you, you'll be paid a retainer fee of £500 per week.
You will also be able to book up to 2 weeks paid holiday per year and you would be paid £500 in total per week.
What do you need to have for emergency foster care?
- be a calm problem solver and have an ability to connect with children/young people
- relevant experience of working with children and young people gained either through a personal or professional role would be beneficial
- emotional resilience and have a good support network
- have relevant experience of direct work with children and young people needing specialist foster care, gained either through a personal or professional role
- be over 21 years old
- have a spare room
If that sounds like you... we'd love to hear from you.
There's a lot of support for you from Wiltshire Council, so if you have a wobble there's someone you can talk to. There's a good network around.
Mark, Foster carer
The benefits of fostering with Wiltshire Council as an emergency foster carer
- Ofsted - foster with a service rated as 'Outstanding' by Ofsted
- not for profit – our work is focused on providing the best care for our children and young people
- up to 2 weeks paid time off annually at £500 each week
- supporting our young people in their community
- high-quality training and excellent support provided locally
- free swimming and court hire; plus substantial discounts for gym and exercise classes for foster carers and their children at all Wiltshire Leisure Centres
- the Wiltshire Rewards scheme gives you access to a choice of savings and discounts from major supermarket chains, high street retailers, holidays and entertainment
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