Understanding the Many Paths to Fostering
Prior to our latest Fostering Live with Progress session, an attendee might have expected a simple conversation about fostering. What happened instead was the start of a bigger realisation: fostering is not one fixed route. It is a whole landscape of possibilities shaped around the very different children who need families.
Many people thought fostering meant only one thing — a child moving in full time, for an indefinite period, into a home that already has space and availability. But as Michelle and Kirsty explained during the session, fostering offers far more flexibility, and many more pathways, than most people realise.
And once that becomes clear, prospective foster carers can begin to see where they might fit too.
Demand for foster families continues to rise across the UK, but what children need is not just more homes, they need the right homes. A child who needs one-to-one attention requires a different kind of placement from a sibling group. A teenager navigating trauma needs something different again. A parent and baby rebuilding their bond need something else entirely.
The purpose of the event was not simply to list the types of fostering. It was to show why those types exist, and why each one plays a vital role in making sure children are matched with the kind of environment that helps them thrive.
Below is a deeper look at those fostering paths, shaped by the insights shared during the session and enriched by what we know from social care practice across the UK.
Solo placements: when one child needs the whole home
The session highlighted that people were surprised that some children must be the only young person in a foster home. Solo placements are not restrictive, they are protective.
Children who have experienced significant trauma, or who struggle to regulate emotions, often need uninterrupted focus from their carer. Some have come from large sibling groups where they never received individual attention; solo fostering becomes their first chance to be truly seen.
It is intense but incredibly rewarding. Many carers say they witness the most dramatic emotional growth in solo placements because the child finally has the space to breathe.
Specialist fostering and the step from residential into family life
One of the strongest themes of the session was the urgent need for carers who can support children with additional needs. This includes learning disabilities, autism, complex behaviours or sensory needs.
Progress, with its unparalleled experience in specialist residential care, offers highly tailored training which is something many do not realise existed. This is important, because a growing number of children are entering residential homes simply because there is not enough specialist foster carers. Some of these children are as young as five.
This is where step-across fostering becomes life-changing: rebuilding a child’s sense of belonging by helping them transition slowly and safely out of a residential setting and into a nurturing family home. It is planned, paced and supported every step of the way, often involving joint visits, familiarisation time and wraparound therapeutic support.
Short breaks and respite: fostering that flexes around real life
Many people at the event said they had assumed fostering always meant full-time care. This misconception is common, and it prevents great potential carers from stepping forward.
Short breaks and respite fostering give families and long-term carers breathing space. For children with additional needs, consistent overnight stays with a trusted carer can make a world of difference.
For new carers, it is a gentle, flexible way to begin fostering while balancing work or family life.
Short breaks carers become a steady presence in a child’s life, often seeing them month after month, year after year. Stability can be built in many ways, not just through full-time care.
Parent and child fostering: a lifeline many never knew existed
One of the most eye-opening parts of the event was the discussion around parent and child fostering. Many attendees admitted they had never heard of it.
Parent and child placements welcome both a parent and their baby into the foster home. The aim is to help parents learn and develop the skills they need to care safely. Sometimes the placement is supportive. Sometimes it is part of a court assessment. In both cases, carers play a crucial role in helping families stay together whenever possible.
This specialism is emotionally demanding but incredibly meaningful. For many babies, it prevents separation. For many parents, it is their first real chance to succeed.
Long term, short term and the rhythm of everyday stability
The event also unpacked the difference between long-term and short-term fostering. Long-term placements give a child a home until adulthood. Short-term placements support them while the future is still being planned.
Both require patience, openness and consistency. Both involve the everyday work of building stability — the school runs, the bedtime routines, the quiet car chats, the hard days and the heartwarming moments.
Children do not remember the label of their placement. They remember the warmth of the home.
Siblings: why extra bedrooms change lives
One of the most heartfelt sections of the session focused on sibling groups. There is a nationwide shortage of families who have enough space to keep siblings together, and it is one of the greatest unmet needs in fostering today.
Michelle and Kirsty spoke about the joy of recent sibling reunifications within Progress. When brothers and sisters come back together, everything softens. Their sleep improves. Their behaviours settle. Their anxiety lifts. Their identity feels intact again. They also explained why sibling placements are such a priority for fostering services right now.
Teenagers: the most misunderstood group in care
Teenagers often face the most barriers when it comes to finding foster families. At the event, viewers shared their fears about fostering teens and then heard the reality.
Teenagers are not “problems”. They are young people navigating adolescence, trauma and identity all at once. They need patience, predictable boundaries, humour and adults who will not give up on them.
Progress offers strong therapeutic support to help carers build these relationships, and the session helped demystify what caring for a teenager truly looks like. Many attendees left feeling far more open to it than when they arrived.
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children: offering safety and belonging
Another topic that resonated deeply was the rise in unaccompanied asylum-seeking children needing homes. These young people have often endured dangerous journeys and significant loss. They need stability, cultural sensitivity and emotional grounding.
For carers, offering a home to an asylum-seeking child is both challenging and profoundly moving. At the event, people spoke about wanting to provide the kind of welcome every child deserves.
Why conversations like this matter
The purpose of Fostering Live with Progress is simple: to educate, to demystify and to help people see where fostering might fit into their lives.
Not everyone will be drawn to every type of fostering. But almost everyone who attended the session realised there is some path that could suit their strengths, lifestyle or experience.
That is the power of understanding the options.
Our next face-to-face information event is on Saturday, 17 January, at Progress’ head office. For anyone inspired by the online session, or simply curious, it is a space to ask questions, explore the different fostering paths and imagine what role you might play in a child’s life next year.
There are no pressure and no commitment. Just conversation, clarity and a warm welcome.
Because fostering begins long before a child moves in. It begins with understanding who they are and discovering which type of care might be the right fit for you.