Sheffield Cares Excellence Awards 2025
Nominate someone who you think is an amazing carer in our Sheffield Cares Excellence Awards 2025. Closing date is 10 November 2024.
When a child or young person is looked after for more than 28 days by someone who is not their parent, legal guardian or close relative, this is called private fostering.
A close relative means a step-parent, grandparent, brother or sister, aunt or uncle by blood, marriage or civil partnership.
If you live in Sheffield, you should tell us if you're caring for a child under 16 (or under 18 if they're disabled) as a private foster carer. It is an offence not to do so.
Examples of privately fostered children include:
If you’re planning to have your child privately fostered you should let us know beforehand, preferably 6 weeks before the arrangement starts. If it's an emergency arrangement, or the child is already privately fostered, you should speak to us as soon as possible.
It's our legal responsibility to then make sure that any child going into private foster care will be looked after properly and that both parents and foster carers understand their roles and responsibilities. When we are notified of a private fostering arrangement we work together with the child, the parents and the private foster carers to ensure that the best possible arrangements are in place for the child, including:
If we think the arrangement is unsuitable we will decide what action to take to safeguard the child’s welfare.
Please contact us.