Becoming a foster carer
The different kinds of fostering
Fostering children from ethnic minorities
Taking care of disabled children
The emotional impact of fostering
Out of 58,900 children looked after by local authorities in the UK each year, around 38,400 are being fostered.
In the past when children were separated from their families, many would end up in children's homes.
But now social services departments place fewer and fewer children in institutions preferring, instead, to use a more family-based form of care - fostering.
For many of the children placed in foster care, it is a temporary arrangement and they will return to their own families.
Some will go on to be adopted while others may return to residential care.
You need to think very carefully about why you want to be a foster carer. It is often not an easy job and can have an enormous impact on your family, especially your children if you have any.
Sometimes the children can have very difficult and destructive behaviour. You can be up night after night changing wet sheets. You may have to deal with embarrassing public tantrums.
But fostering can also be hugely rewarding for both you, your children and your foster children who can sometimes look back on the memory of your care as the one positive thing that made a difference to their lives. See our My Story
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