Frequently asked questions

Yes, you foster children if you rent your property. We will need written permission that you can foster from your landlord. 

We ask that you are settled in your home and have lived in or near Lewisham for more than one year.

No, you do not need to live in a house to foster. It is more important to have a spare bedroom if you want to foster children and young people over 5 years old.
We ask that there is enough space in your home to allow children or young person to:

• sleep
• play
• do their homework

You must be at least 21 years old to foster. There is no upper age limit. We need to make sure we are realistic when matching and placing a child with you. Your age and health will be taken into account when placing a child with you.

Everyone who applies to foster is required to have a detailed medical check with their own doctor. Fostering a child is demanding and people have to be physically able to do the job. If you have a physical or mental health condition, let us know from the start and we can advise if you can go ahead with your application.

We will not approve people who smoke to care for children who:

• are aged up to 5 years old
• have a disability

This is because of the particularly high health risks for children who spend most of the their day physically next to their carers. All foster carers are asked not to smoke and not to allow those around them to smoke.

Everyone in the household over 18 years needs to have a Disclosure and Baring Service (DBS) check. Anyone with a conviction for ill treatment of children will not be allowed to be a foster carer. Any other convictions or cautions would need to be discussed on a case-by-case basis. As this role involved access to children, an enhanced DBS will need to be done, so even spent convictions will need to be disclosed from the start of any application.

We welcome applications from people who have their own children. We discuss the impact of fostering on your own children as part of the initial process.

You can foster if you work full-time, as long as you can balance your work with the needs of the child e.g. look after a secondary school age child who can get themselves to school and home or if you work from home and can be flexible with your working hours.

You can be considered if you’re interested in offering respite care at weekends, during school holidays or other short periods of time.

Many of our current carers have pets. As part of your assessment, we ask you and your vet questions about your pet (where appropriate) to check if your pet may experience difficulty in accepting a new child or young person into the home.

We will sensitively contact previous significant partners, particularly if you helped care for children within those relationships. We need to know if there are any concerns if you have:

• cared for your own children
• worked with children

We welcome applications from all sections of the community, including applications from people who are single. Your relationship status will not be a barrier to you being approved as a foster carer. What is more important is that you have the support and resources to dedicate to a child or young person.

We welcome applications from all sections of the community, including applications from men who are single. Your sex and relationship status will not be a barrier to you being approved as a foster carer. What is more important is that you have the support and resources to dedicate to a child or young person.

We welcome applications from all sections of the community, including people from the LGBTQ+ community. Your sexual orientation will not be a barrier to you being approved as a foster carer.

You must ensure that the children in your care can get to school. This is one reason why we prefer our foster carers to live in the same or neighbouring borough. Children can then stay at their existing school, which makes it easier to ensure they can attend.

Many of the children will have some contact with their parents. How often and where will vary. It’s common for a child to have supervised contact through a contact centre. Any arrangements will have been agreed in the child’s care plan, which is regularly reviewed in case anything needs to change.

Foster carers for Lewisham Council receive a weekly tax-free allowance for each child. The amount received will vary dependent on the age of the child or young person and the experience of the foster carer. A typical payment per placement, per week is usually between £350-£500 and up to £650 if you are looking after a child with complex needs.

See the financial support section for further information.

Neither your allowance nor your reward will affect any benefits you might be getting such as:

• Universal Credit 
• Income Support
• Disability Allowance
• Housing Benefit

We recommend that foster carers take out contents insurance to cover any accidental damage that may occur in the home.

We need to know about your financial situation and if you have outstanding debts and have to be satisfied they are being managed.

Foster carer enquiries only (no marketing or sales calls please, they will not be dealt with)
Please use our online form and someone will be in touch with you within the same day. 

Phone line opening times:
Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm

Contact:
Phone: 0800 015 0129
Email: fosteringrecruitment@lewisham.gov.uk

Fostering out-of-hours support line service only

This out-of-hours advice line is covered by a fostering supervising social worker who can provide advice over the phone.
Opening times:
Monday to Friday, 5.30pm–11pm
Weekends and Bank Holidays, 10am–10pm

Contact
Phone: 020 8314 6655 (Ext 46655)
Email Fostering-Duty@lewisham.gov.uk 

If you have an emergency that outside of these hours, contact our emergency duty social worker for support.