What Support Should Your Fostering Agency Provide?

All fostering agencies are legally required to meet minimum support standards. But minimum and good are very different things. Here's how to judge whether your agency is pulling its weight.

Supervising social worker visits

Minimum: At least one visit every 3 months (once per quarter) at your home. Unannounced visits at least once per year.

Good practice: Monthly contact — at minimum by phone — with a substantive home visit every 6–8 weeks. Your SSW should know your children by name and engage with them during visits.

Out-of-hours support

Minimum: 24/7 access to a person who can provide support or advice.

Good practice: A rota of qualified social workers on-call — not just a call-handling service that takes messages. You should be able to reach someone who knows the care system and can make decisions, not just a sympathetic voice who logs a call.

Training

Minimum: 15 hours of training per year for each approved carer.

Good practice: 40+ hours per year, including therapeutic parenting, trauma-informed practice, attachment, and specialism-specific courses. Training should be regularly updated — not recycled content from 5 years ago.

Foster carer support groups

Not a legal requirement, but a strong indicator of agency culture. Regular in-person (or hybrid) support groups give carers space to share experiences, problem-solve, and feel less isolated. Their absence is a warning sign.

Reviewing your placement agreements

Your agency should review your Carer Agreement at least annually, ensuring your approval conditions and support plan reflect your current situation and experience.

If your agency isn't meeting the minimum

You can raise a formal complaint with the agency. If unresolved, you can escalate to Ofsted. Or — you can transfer to an agency that does.