Breaking Barriers & Celebrating Diversity
At Ideal Fostering, we celebrate diversity and recognise the wide-ranging skills, experiences and perspectives that different people can bring to fostering. What matters when considering a prospective foster carer is their ability to provide a child or young person with a safe, caring and supportive family environment. Being gay or lesbian is not a barrier to becoming a foster carer.
A Diverse Fostering Community
Foster families come in many different forms. There is no single picture of what a fostering household should look like, and children and young people themselves come from a wide variety of backgrounds and family experiences. Having foster carers with different life experiences helps create a diverse fostering community with a broad range of skills and perspectives.
Ideal Fostering has experience of working with foster carers from the LGBTQ+ community, including carers who have enjoyed long and successful fostering journeys with us. If you are thinking about fostering and would find it helpful to hear about their experiences, please speak to our team. Where appropriate, we can explore opportunities for you to learn more from existing foster carers and gain a more personal understanding of what fostering can involve.
We understand that prospective gay and lesbian foster carers may have questions that are specific to their own circumstances. You might wonder whether your sexual orientation will affect your application, how the assessment process works or how children, birth families and professionals may respond to your family.
We want you to feel comfortable asking these questions. The fostering assessment is an opportunity for us to get to know you as an individual or couple and for you to learn much more about fostering. Rather than expecting prospective carers to fit a particular family model, the process considers the qualities, experiences, circumstances and skills that they could bring to caring for a child or young person.
Welcoming All Backgrounds
Your own experiences can also contribute to the qualities you bring to fostering. Understanding identity, recognising individuality, communicating openly and appreciating different experiences and perspectives can all be valuable when supporting children and young people as they develop their own sense of who they are. Every prospective foster carer needs preparation for the responsibilities involved, regardless of their background or family structure. Ideal Fostering provides training and support to help carers develop their knowledge and skills both as they prepare to foster.
Don’t Rule Yourself Out!
Training can help you explore different aspects of caring for children and young people, understand some of the experiences children in foster care may have had and develop practical approaches that can support you in your role. Continued learning is an important part of fostering because every child is an individual and different placements can bring different experiences and challenges.
We also recognise the value of feeling part of a fostering community. Having opportunities to communicate with people who understand fostering can provide another valuable source of shared experience, knowledge and encouragement.
If you are gay or lesbian and have been wondering whether you could foster, we would encourage you to find out more rather than ruling yourself out. Your relationship status or sexual orientation alone does not determine whether you have the qualities needed to become a foster carer.
An initial conversation with Ideal Fostering can give you an opportunity to ask questions, discuss your circumstances and learn more about the application and assessment process without assuming what the outcome will be.
For further independent information, Fosterline also provides information for LGBTQ+ foster carers and people considering fostering. Fosterline is funded by the Department for Education and provides free, impartial and confidential advice to existing and prospective foster carers across England.
If you are considering fostering, we would be happy to help you learn more about the journey and the contribution you could make as part of a diverse fostering community.
