Overview of FOCUS Fostering

Young mother and son looking at phone screen

Lincolnshire County Council, like all other Local Authorities, is facing increased demand for foster homes for children in care, with the numbers of children entering care rising year on year. In recent years, more children aged between 12 and 15 years have been entering residential care.

his is due to many factors, but includes foster home availability, which means that some children face having to move away from the area they call home and the people and places they love.

In response to this, a 2-year pilot has been agreed which will have a specific focus on recruiting foster carers who specialise in caring for 12–15-year-olds who have been assessed as being ‘at risk’ of entering residential care.

The aim of this pilot is ensuring that children remain close and connected to their community, network and school, and can be supported within a fostering family environment rather than a residential setting.

Types of fostering

There are 3 types of FOCUS care arrangements, and we are looking for new carers from all backgrounds and experience levels, for each type of care: 

  1. Full-time FOCUS carers are the primary caregivers and main foster carer for children who are assessed as being more likely to live in residential care when they enter care. 
  2. Transition FOCUS carers are there to enhance the offer of support to both our existing foster carers and eligible teenagers entering care for a period of up to 4 weeks.  This will enable us work closely with the children’s teams to explore whether the child can return home, to family, or needs to be supported into a longer-term fostering arrangement. Transition carers will play a vital role in supporting teenagers into care and helping assess their ongoing needs.  
  3. Support FOCUS carers will provide regular short stays to teenagers in FOCUS fostering homes. Support FOCUS carers will play a vital part in building and strengthening the support networks of both the children and FOCUS foster carers and will provide children with consistent short stay opportunities.

Support and transition FOCUS carers can be full-time, or part-time to work around your commitments; you can do a combination of Support and Transition care within the FOCUS scheme, and this can be explored within your initial home visit.