What you wanted to know about fostering

Fostering is about looking after children who are unable to remain with their families.

Barnardo's Cymru provides children with short term placements which may be for a few days, weeks or months. We also provide children with permanent foster homes when it is not possible for them to return to their family.

Children are fostered because they cannot stay with their own families for any one of a number of reasons. Foster carers provide a safe, secure home life for a child for anything from a few days to several years.

Unlike adoption, fostering means that although the child will become part of your family, the legal rights remain with the parents of the child or with the local authority. This means that although you have the responsibility for the wellbeing of the child on a day to day basis, you will need to discuss any major decisions with the child's social worker.

Some foster children keep in regular contact with their family and some in short term foster care may return to live as part of that family. However, if the child cannot return to the family home then it's our job to find them a permanent foster home.