Respite and Short Break Fostering
A foster care home-finding arrangement that lasts a short amount of time.
What is Respite Foster Care?
A respite foster care home-finding arrangement (also known as a short break home-finding arrangement) is where the child or young person is placed with a foster carer for a short period of time.
Respite foster arrangements may be for one night or up to a couple of weeks, and often take place during the weekend or school holidays. After the arrangement ends, the child will return to their birth family or their previous foster family.
As a respite foster carer, you will know in advance if there is a child or young person needing an arrangement. Your supervising social worker will arrange to introduce you to the child prior to their short break arrangement commencing.
Why are Short Break Fostering Home-Finding Arrangements Needed?
Respite foster arrangements provide a break for either birth parents or full-time foster carers.
Some respite arrangements will be for children or young people who have complex health needs. In these cases, respite arrangements provide a chance for a family to relax from a demanding role and to spend time with the other children within the household.
The Benefits of Becoming a Respite Foster Carer
Being a respite foster carer is a unique experience as you will have breaks between your arrangements and will be able to schedule them in advance.
While you will be able to fit respite arrangements around your schedule, it may be challenging if you look after a child with physical or developmental disabilities and as their respite carer, you will still need to ensure their needs are met.
As a foster carer with Swiis, you’ll be given all the support and training you need to provide exceptional care to the children and young people in your arrangement.
Respite Fostering Allowance
Swiis pays up to £625 a week (for one child) for respite fostering arrangements. Due to the nature of respite fostering, you will not always have a child in an arrangement, or you will only have an arrangement for a short time (often less than one week), but on occasion it can be for a longer period.
Due to Qualifying Care Relief, you will likely not have to pay any tax on your fostering income. Learn more about fostering tax relief.
*Please note the above pay and allowances are an indication of the weekly payments made for each home-finding arrangement type. All fees vary as each arrangement is assessed on an individual basis and can differ by region.
Fostering Allowances are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change, talk to a member of the Swiis team to discuss how the finances could work for you. For current tax free allowances, please see the Gov.uk website.
To learn more about the financial support Swiis provides, visit our page on allowances and pay
Sheen’s Experience – Short-Term Fostering with Swiis
Other Types of Fostering
There are many types of fostering, all of which you can discuss with your social worker during your assessment. These include short-term fostering, long-term fostering, parent and child, sibling, additional or complex needs, and emergency/unplanned.
Fostering with Swiis Foster Care
For over 20 years, Swiis Foster Care has been one of the finest independent fostering agencies in the UK. With offices throughout England and Scotland (with our sister company Swiis Foster Care Scotland), our overarching aim is to attain the best possible outcomes for ‘children in care.
Swiis foster carers benefit from some of the highest fostering allowances in the UK, along with fantastic training and support.
To discuss your fostering questions or to enquire about becoming a foster carer with Swiis, please visit our contact page or call 0333 577 1234.