Fostering infants.
Your suitability to fostering certain age groups will be appraised during your initial assessment. Most prospective foster carers prefer to foster infants. However, they may enter fostering with misconceptions.
On a practical level, infants need to share the same room as their foster parents, at least until the age of six months. If you are interested in fostering infants, you will need the space for a crib in your bedroom. Children aged two and above must have their own bedroom.
Infants require very close care, which could include night feeds, soothing and constant monitoring. Foster parents often find it difficult to relinquish their care of an infant when they must move on.
Fostering infants is often recognised as a particularly rewarding role. The first three years of an infant’s life have a formative importance on their personal development.
As a foster carer, you are likely to see infants in your care discovering and experiencing things for the first time. This can be a very powerful experience.