Fostering

The council provides a fostering agency that seeks and approves families to foster children. Children need foster care for lots of different reasons. For example, their parents may be ill, in prison, or having relationship problems. Some children will have been neglected or abused.

Foster carers make a real difference to the lives of vulnerable children. The work carried out by our foster carers means the children in our care can get the stability and support they need.

We need more foster carers to join our fostering family to help us care for children in our borough who, for whatever reason, are unable to live with their birth family.

We need foster carers to look after a wide age range of children from birth upwards. You do not need to live in Tower Hamlets to foster for us.

As the country starts to come out of lockdown, we can start your fostering assessment virtually to ensure your safety.

All of our foster carers receive comprehensive benefits, support and training. Fostering is a rewarding and challenging role, with the chance for foster carers to make a real positive difference to a child or young person’s life.

Who can become a foster carer?

Whatever your age, ethnicity or personal circumstances, fostering could be for you. It doesn't matter if you are a home owner, tenant, or on housing benefit, as long as you can demonstrate that you can provide stability and safety to a child, then we will consider your application.

We are looking for carers who can provide a child with a loving and stable environment for them to grow and develop. You will need to help them feel comfortable in your home and their surroundings.

It's important to remember that we are not simply looking for people who have had straightforward lives. We will consider your family history sympathetically.

We want to know how you have dealt with difficult experiences and what you have learned. Having survived and learned from difficulties or losses is likely to be helpful in fostering children and helping those who have had their own problems.

If you are interested in becoming a foster carer you will need to meet with a social worker many times to talk about yourself, your family and your experiences of looking after children.

Some people find the idea of this daunting, but our social workers are highly experienced and will do everything they can to help you feel reassured during this process.

You will also need to have police and medical checks and will need to ask employers, friends and families to give references.

It usually takes between four to six months to become an approved foster carer. 

Find out more about fostering for Tower Hamlets.

How to contact us

You can contact our fostering recruitment and assessment team by phone or email anytime. A duty social worker is available between 9am - 5pm or you can leave a message outside these hours.