Denise, foster carer and fostering enquiry officer: I foster for my own local authority and I also work as a fostering ambassador and an inquiry officer for eight London local authorities in West London.
I've also fostered with an independent fostering agency. And the biggest question I get asked is, "Is the support with the local authority as good as with an independent fostering agency?"
And I can honestly say, and I tell everybody I speak to, it's as good if not better. Which has surprised me. I'll be honest, it surprised me.
Lindsey, foster carer: I don't know if it's just a common myth, but I was led to believe that working for an IFA, there'd be a lot more support. You know, your social worker would have smaller caseloads, so just a lot more time and support for you. There's supposedly more money with an IFA as well.
So when I transferred to the local authority, I was completely blown away by the support. I was really shocked at the level of support I got. I definitely get more support. I think there's better turnouts at like support groups because people are a lot more local.
Pamela, foster carer: Now there is an opinion, you know, conception, whatever you want to call it, out there that the fostering agencies pay way more than the councils. And if I'm being really honest, I have not really found that to be the case because I moved from an agency to the council. So, for me it was almost like for like, but you know it depends really.
Ian, foster carer: We have always fostered for the local authority and I think there is one really big advantage to that in in my view.
The biggest thing over the years that we fostered and the number of children we've had, the biggest factor is what social workers refer to as "the match." That is, how well you think a child will fit in with your family and your circumstances. Maybe other children that you're looking after who live with you.
And the local authority foster carers have first choice, if you like. It sounds sound sounds really harsh to say it about children, that it's first choice, but the local authority come to their own foster carers first. And what that means is that you have the widest range of children offered to you where you can say, "I think that will be a good match for who already lives in the home with us," or "that's a good age range for us."
Lindsey: I think if I'd have known what I'd known now, I would have gone worked for a local authority straight away and never gone to an IFA. Like I said, I think without having anybody who knew and had the knowledge, I wasn't able to make any decisions, any informed decisions. So yeah, I wish I'd gone straight to a local authority.