Welcome to Fostering in Barnsley!
We are the fostering service for Barnsley Council, providing local foster carers for children who come into care in Barnsley. We currently have over 100 carers who care for around 130 children.
Children come into care for a whole range of reasons, including a family member’s short term illness or a parent’s depression or drug or alcohol misuse. Some children have experienced abuse or neglect.
Foster care gives families a chance to sort out their problems by providing the child or children with a safe, caring home while they are unable to live with their own families. In the meantime social workers work with families to make the home a safe place for a child so that the family can be reunited.
Some older children cannot return home but still want to stay in touch with their families and they stay in long term foster care. Younger children who cannot return home will move on to adoption.
There’s nothing quite like fostering if you want to work with children. Foster carers have a unique chance to make a real difference to a child’s life, supporting them and working to help them develop and achieve their potential.
Foster carers are increasingly recognised as child care professionals. Fostering is not easy and in Barnsley we recognise that our carers need support and ongoing training. All carers receive an allowance to cover the cost of looking after a child and as carers become more experienced they receive a fee for the work they do. As a Barnsley carer you will be working as part of a child care team.
There are different types of fostering and carers decide which area they want to specialise in and what suits their family best. Some carers do short term fostering, others long term or weekend respite care. You can foster for weekends, months or years. You can foster one child, or several children and we need carers for all ages of children from babies to teenagers. We particularly need carers who can care for brothers and sisters together.
If you are interested in caring for teenagers and older children who present more challenges then think about our Care Plus scheme and look at our additional information on the website. We are looking for applicants who have experience with older or challenging children and young people. If you have experience through work, fostering or from other caring and want to specialise in this area, look at our attractive package of support and allowances up to £540 per week.
We always need more foster carers, so we always welcome new enquiries about fostering. If you think fostering could be for you, browse our website for more information. Our Fostering Information Pack is available from the website.
Next steps
If you have looked at our information and want to proceed, or if you have questions you want to ask, phone the Fostering Team for a chat. Contact us on 01226 775876 and ask to speak with the social worker on duty for fostering. We will want to take some information about you and your family and talk with you about your interest in fostering and what kind of fostering you are thinking about. We can advise you about what may fit in best with your skills and your family commitments.
We can give you more information about the application and assessment process and you can ask any questions you have. After this we can arrange an initial home visit. You will be able to complete an application form after this visit.
Are you already caring for someone else’s child?
If you are already caring for someone else’s child you may be a private foster carer and it is important that you make contact with us. Private Fostering is very different from caring for a child in care.
Key documents
Useful websites
- Barnsley Safeguarding Children Board
- Could You Foster?
- Private Fostering (Safeguarding Children Barnsley)
Legislation
- Children Act 1989
- Children Act 2004
- Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards, Fostering Services Regulations 2002
Contact us
By post to: Duty Social Worker - Fostering, PO Box 679, Barnsley S70 9JE.
Telephone: 01226 775876 from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 8.30am to 4.30pm Friday.
Email: fostering@barnsley.gov.uk
Reference: PID159
