Training and Development

As a foster carer you will have already completed some basic training and induction. It is important for you to continue to build on this training in order to be fully equipped to deal with the many situations you may face. The support and training you will be offered will help you to become more confident.

This support and development continues throughout your fostering career, making fostering a positive experience for both you and the child/young person.

Two foster carers in the same house can use the same workbook.  Training will be geared towards each carer's needs.

As part of our commitment to our carers, Lambeth aims to offer a well-designed and well-presented annual programme of training that will help you develop your role. Our aim is to create a provision of 'therapeutic fostering' – parenting children who have missed out on healthy emotional development and milestones in their early years. With your commitment to self-development and learning, we will endeavour to offer training which will provide you with the knowledge, skills and confidence to offer an enhanced level of care to meet the increasing complex needs of looked after children.

Your Supervising Social Worker will work with you to devise an annual Personal Development Plan, bearing in mind the knowledge and skills you will need at each stage in your fostering career. There are some courses that all carers must attend in order to maintain their level of approval, and there are others that are optional or relevant only to certain types of carer.

Experienced carers will need to continue to update their training and development and will be encouraged to attend refresher training, for example, in safeguarding or first aid, or because of changes in practice or the law since you were first approved.

We have currently adopted a mixed approach of online and in-person training which continues to support our training offer, allowing newly approved and established foster carers the ability to undertake courses ensuring they are not hindered in any way from continued professional development.

As well as guiding you through Lambeth's annual programme of courses, your Supervising Social Worker can help you to identify other learning resources. Possibilities include online training and relevant television programmes, articles, books, conferences and workshops.

We do hope that you will embrace and enjoy our provision of training which will open the gateway to your ongoing professional development.

Skills to Foster Training

To be a foster carer is to take on an important and valuable role. To foster children and young people who have had distressing and painful experiences is especially challenging. Lambeth Fostering Service approves carers not only because of their character and their existing skills, but also because of their willingness to learn how to become even more effective in their role.

Lambeth has chosen to use Skills to Foster, a training programme for prospective foster carers produced by The Fostering Network. This is a comprehensive 4-day programme which aims to prepare applicants who are becoming foster carers. The programme also serves as part of the applicants' assessment process.

Post Approval Training

Once you have been approved as a foster carer, you will need to attend the core training for newly approved carers.  All new foster carers must complete a workbook which shows evidence of their ability to meet the Training, Support and Development Standards for Foster Care, Short Break Carers or for Family and Friends Foster Carers within 12 months of being approved (or within 18 months for Connected Persons foster carers (family and friends).

As well as completing the actual training, you will also need to keep a record of the training and <emevidence of what you have learned.

Your SSW will help to make sure that you can provide evidence that you meet a particular standard. Evidence may take various forms, such as certificates of training attended, reflective diary sheets, extracts from one or more reports you have written, and feedback from social workers and Reviewing Officers. You should keep this supporting evidence in a folder or portfolio. You should also enter a summary of the evidence in the relevant section of the workbook we will provide.

Once you have completed your evidence portfolio and your workbook, your SSW will check them. If your SSW is satisfied that you have met all of the standards, she or he will sign the workbook. This will then need to be verified by a manager, after which you will receive a certificate of completion and a reward of £200 will be made available.

Your Training Record

The Fostering Service offers a number of pre-approval and post-approval training courses, specifically for prospective foster carers and approved foster carers. Details of these courses can be found in the Fostering Service training brochure, and we also provide regular updates and reminders of forthcoming training and development events. Your SSW will discuss these with you, and let the trainers know if you would like to attend.

Plan for the year, and this plan will be discussed at your Annual Review of Approval.

Remember to keep a record of all your learning. This can include:

• Learning from discussions in supervision and support groups;
• Any research and reading you may do;
• Any reflections on an event from which you were able to learn.

Add any certificates you receive to your evidence portfolio and write a summary of the evidence in the relevant section of the workbook.

The standards cover the main areas of the foster care role and what you should know, understand and be able to do.

This evidence will begin to be gathered before you are approved, through the Skills to Foster course and will continue after you are approved. All evidence will be recorded in a training and development portfolio.

Your personal development plan will set out how you will be supported with training and development. Your Supervising Social Worker will also discuss any help or support needed by your own children.

Training sessions are held during the day, evenings or sometimes at weekends in convenient places, Reasonable expenses may be paid to enable you to attend.

The fostering service is committed to providing tailored training and support to all its foster carers that is based on equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice.

Training also comes in many forms, you may attend courses but there may also be some on-line resources/courses, books or workshops that may also be helpful.

Your Supervising Social Worker will provide you with a training programme. If you are interested in any courses, speak to them and complete the training form in order to attend.