How to become a Short Breaks Carer

The process to become a short break foster carer usually takes around six months, involves a number of mandatory background checks, visits to your family home and will include a fostering assessment completed by the family based care service.  The team will support you through each step of the process.

1. Contact us

Call us on 01506 284440 or Get in touch online and a friendly member of our team will contact you to discuss whether short breaks is right for you.

2. Initial visit

The initial visit is a meeting in your home by a member of our team.  The purpose is to give you an opportunity to have an informal face to face discussion with a social worker about the role of short breaks and what it involves. We want you to have the opportunity to ask any questions you might have. Our intention is to leave you with an understanding of what short breaks is all about so that you can make an informed decision about whether proceeding is right for you and your family.

3. Preparation group

If after the initial visit you decide that providing short breaks is right for you and your family, you will be invited to attend preparation training sessions to ensure you are thoroughly prepared.

Following your preparation group should you wish to continue your journey, you will be given an application form to complete.

4. Assessment

We use the CoramBAAF Form F model to undertake our assessments and a social worker will be assigned to you to complete this piece of work. Your social worker will visit your home around 8 to 10 times and will look at your relevant skills, knowledge and experiences.  We call these competencies.  We assess your competencies by gathering information about you from a wide range of sources including checks and references undertaken, and evidence you give about yourself,  your skills and experiences.

The checks include:

• Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) police disclosure check
• Full medical
• Local authority checks
• Personal references
• Employment history
• Employment reference
• Previous partners, older and adult children where applicable / appropriate.  Any concerns about these checks can be fully discussed with your allocated worker as we recognise each persons individual circumstances.

Your social worker writes a report outlining your skills, training needs and areas of vulnerability. You will be fully involved in the production of this report. A recommendation is included about being approved as a short breaks foster carer and for what age range and number of children.  

5. Fostering panel

Once all the information has been gathered and the recommendation reached, the assessment report is submitted to the West Lothian Fostering Panel who make a recommendation in relation to your suitability as a short break carer. You are asked to attend the panel along with your social worker and you will be given all reports and recommendations in advance of this. The Panel will then make a recommendation to our Agency Decision Maker which you will be advised of on the day. The Agency Decision Maker will then make the final decision on your application based on all of the information provided to them. You will receive this decision in writing within 14 days.

If approved, you will be asked to sign formal documentation agreeing to abide by our policies, procedures and guidelines. You will be assigned a Supervising Social Worker who is likely to be the person that undertook your assessment. The Social Worker will meet with you regularly and you will continue to receive support and training to help you with your role.

Not everyone is approved to be a carer, sometimes it isn't the right time or circumstances but you may be eligible in the future and you can always choose to appeal any  recommendation made by a panel that now is not the right time for you.

At any point prior to the panel you can request the assessment be stopped and you will therefore not proceed to a panel.

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