This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council on behalf of Slough Children First for the attention of all schools.
Private fostering is an arrangement that is very common (especially during school breaks), but for many people, they do not realise they’re doing it.
As well as this, it is not always reported, and when it is, it can often be confused with fostering.
New material has been designed to highlight to bring private fostering to the forefront again (especially on social media), during the month of August (examples attached) with our ‘duties’ campaign. We want to raise awareness about it with parents, private foster carers and professionals and ask everyone to help make sure that it is understood and properly reported.
According to the Children Act 1989, private fostering is when a child under the age of 16 (18 if they have a disability) goes to live with someone who is not a close relative (like a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or step-parent through marriage or civil partnership) for 28 days or more.
If you are aware of someone of a child or young person who’s being looked after by someone who isn’t their parent or close relative, they may be in a private fostering arrangement, and it is your duty to let your local authority know, and in Slough, it’s Slough Children First.
