Could you help transform a child's life by providing a safe, loving home?
We would love to speak to people from all backgrounds about how fostering can change lives for the better (both yours and a foster child's)!
Providing a safe, nurturing environment for a vulnerable child can be an incredibly rewarding experience but we also know it’s a huge decision to decide to open your home and hearts to a young person in need of support.
Our team are always on hand to discuss becoming a foster carer in Norfolk, whether you’ve fostered for years and are looking to transfer to us, or simply want to find out more about what the next steps will be.
It takes a village.
Foster a child with Break
Become a support foster carer
Face-to-face drop in session
Therapeutic parenting is central to our approach
Wrap-around support from a small, charity-funded team and peers
Long-term placements cultivated in safe, loving homes
Be paid up to £600 a week depending on the nature of the placement
Read our fostering brochure
More information on Break's Fostering team, recruitment process, the support foster carers receive and more in our Fostering brochure.
"It’s about helping them to harness their strengths and finding that one little thing and asking yourself, ‘how can we support this? How can we help them to grow?’."
Therapeutic Parenting
All children and young people in Break's fostering services will have had a difficult and troubling start to their lives, and this often means that trusting and forming attachments with their care givers is really hard. This is why we think therapeutic parenting is so important.
"Therapeutic parenting" describes a style of care designed to support a child or young person in developing feelings of safety and connectedness. Therapeutic parenting sees behaviour as a form of communication rather than as something to be managed.
Fostering FAQs
Absolutely - we have worked with lots of foster carers who already have children. Some of those children are still living at home, whilst others decide to take on fostering once their own children have grown up. You can also foster if you have no children of your own.
No relationship status disqualifies you from being a foster carer. No matter your relationship status, the impact on your friends and family will be part of the Form F assessment process to see the impact on your support network.
Support foster carers play a key part in Break’s fostering family. You’ll be matched with a foster family and will provide short breaks for the child in their care. This might mean that for one weekend a month, the young person will come and stay with you and your family.
Visit the support foster carer page here to find out more.
Foster carers need to be 21 or older. There is no upper age limit - you just need to enough energy and enthusiasm to keep up with the young people in your care.
Foster caring is a full-time job, and in our experience we find that continuing to work alongside your role as a foster carer is difficult. Your role will involve being available for meetings and appointments during the day as well as attending review meetings, medical appointments and training for instance.
In a two person fostering household we would expect one of the partnership to be a full-time foster carer.
You will be paid for fostering, and as part of your decision to become a foster carer we would ask you to consider whether this role can work for you financially.
Yes, you will be remunerated for your fostering role. On average when you have a child in your care you will earn in the region of £600 per week plus some travelling expenses. If you need more information about how much you will be paid, please ask a member of the team who will be very happy to help.
Yes, the child in your care will need their own room.
Yes. Any pets in the home will be looked at as part of your Form F assessment. You will need to consider how your pet responds to children.
Normally, we would expect foster carers to take the child they are caring for with them on holiday.
All foster carers will have a support care plan which is led by the child they are caring for. This care plan could include overnight stays where the child would stay away from your home but it would depend on their needs. Break has part-time and support carers to help in such instances.
We always work with you and your child's Local Authority social worker to plan for your child post 18. If you would like your child to remain living with you post 18 then they can do so under a Staying Put arrangement. You will no longer be in a foster care role for this child but the LA will continue to fund you at a different rate for you to continue to offer your child a home.
Alternatively, if your child wishes to move on at 18 or you are not in a position to be able to offer Staying Put, Break have a service called Staying Close, Staying Connected for residential care leavers which is being expanded to include young people in fostering (Fostering Futures). The service supports them in their first steps towards fully independent living. We are able to offer them a home, and a Break Transition Worker to support them as they move out of care and into their own accommodation.
As the young person approaches the age of 18, we will work together with them and you to explore options for them to move on to. Each individual will be different and we will work together to find the best option for the young person.
Any young person in Break's services benefits from our lifelong offer. It's our promise that no matter how old they may be, we are always here for them to turn to
When you join Break as a foster carer you become part of the extended fostering team. You'll work with Break staff and other foster carers with similar experiences to increase your understanding of therapeutic parenting in order to create a safe environment in which the young person in your care can allow themselves to trust again. You can expect:
- Monthly supervisions with your supervising social worker, with additional support from them when you need it
- Where required, to be matched with a support carer to allow you and the child in your care time away from each other, where they’re still cared for in a loving, supportive environment that meets their needs
- Joint supervisions alongside your support carer to ensure a joined up approach
- A support group alongside fellow foster carers at Break
- A ‘buddy’ system for new foster carers to help you settle into the team
- Involvement in the Service Development Group sitting alongside Break’s senior leadership, and Break fostering staff
- Access to a therapist
- Activity days for children, carers and the fostering team
- Ongoing training alongside a personal development plan, including access to the National Association of Therapeutic Parenting website
- Membership of Dragon Rebellion for any birth children in fostering families so they are able to share their experience in a group lead by a supporting social worker and therapeutic practitioner
Brilliant! We’re really pleased you’re interested in fostering with Break. The next step is to get in touch with our fostering team to start a conversation. In an initial chat we’ll talk through any questions you have about fostering and how we work at Break to see if fostering is the right fit for you.
About Break
Break is an innovative East Anglian charity creating a brighter tomorrow for children and young adults on the edge of care, leaving care and beyond.
Our team is packed with experience in supporting vulnerable children and young people. You will be provided with expert training and support through your application and placement.
Break's services aren't just about keeping a roof over a young person's head. They're also about helping each and every young person thrive, no matter their start in life. So we'll always be here for you and your young person.
