What is private fostering?
It's when a child under 16 - or under 18 if the child is disabled - goes to live for more than 28 days with people who are not close relatives. Close relatives are a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt or step-parent.
Parents and carers must let the council know about private fostering. It's against the law not to.
Included under these regulations is the young person who stays with a friend's family even without their own parent's consent (for more than 28 days.) Also include are some foreign students who bring their children to the UK, and arrange for them to be cared for by alternative carers while they are studying as well as some overseas children who attend fee-paying schools and are boarded out in the nearby area.
Contact us to find out more or to tell us about a child in private fostering.
- Ridingleaze, Lawrence Weston, BS11 0GE
Tel: 0117 9031700 - Symes House, Hartcliffe, BS13 0EE
Tel: 0117 353 2200 - Broadwalk, Knowle, BS4 2QY
Tel: 0117 903 1414 - Welsman, Princes Street, St Pauls, BS2 9JA
Tel: 0117 903 6500 - Email childprotection@bristol.gov.uk
We will need some basic information. Use our notification form PF1 to give us this information.
Private fostering is not the same as
- childminding - children don't live with childminders
- council arranged fostering