Welcome

The handbook reflects policies, procedure and guidance for the fostering service, which cover many common situations faced by foster carers on a day to day basis. It has been written in an accessible way to help you understand the sort of things that your fostering service requires of you. It has been designed for new and existing foster carers and deals with the day to day practicalities you may face.

Slough Children First (SCF) provides an Out of Hours telephone advice and support service to foster carers who are experiencing a difficult situation and need assistance outside of office hours. See Out of Hours Support Policy.

The content is accessible via the links on the right-hand side or to view the full contents list for the handbook please click here.

There is a Resources area which contains additional guidance from Slough Children First which will be relevant to your role.

The Safeguarding Children Procedures can be found in the Pan Berkshire Safeguarding Children Procedures Manual.

You can also find safeguarding guidance on the Slough Safeguarding Partnership website.

The chapters in this handbook have links to the Minimum Standards for Fostering Services and references to the relevant Training, Support and Development Standards. You should also use the handbook to support your learning and development, particularly in relation to meeting the induction standards.

Foster carers play an important role in the lives of Looked After Children and their families so it is important that you have the necessary tools to support you with this task. The handbook is one of these tools alongside the many professionals you will work with including your Supervising Social Worker and other foster carers.

This is the start of a great journey for you and the children and young people you may work with.