Training and Development

As a foster carer you should receive effective training and supervision in respect of the specific and complex needs of the children you are caring for.

As a foster carer you will have already completed some basic training and induction.

It is important for you to continue to build on this training in order to be fully equipped to deal with the many situations you may face. The support and training you will be offered will help you to become more confident. There will be mandatory training that you will be expected to do and refresh every 3 years.

This support and development continues throughout your fostering career, making fostering a positive experience for both you and the child/young person.

All new foster carers must complete a workbook which shows evidence of their ability to meet the Training, Support and Development Standards for Foster Care, Short Break Carers or for Family and Friends Foster Carers within 12 months of being approved (or within 18 months for Connected Persons foster carers (family and friends). If you feel that you cannot complete the workbook within the time scales please discuss this with your Supervising Social Worker.

Two foster carers in the same house can use the same workbook.

The standards cover the main areas of the foster care role and what you should know, understand and be able to do.

This evidence will begin to be gathered before you are approved, through the Becoming a Fostering Family course and will continue after you are approved. All evidence will be recorded in a training and development portfolio.

You will have access to support sessions about each TSD standard, details of which can be found in the foster carer training brochure or on Learning Pool. You can also access supportive e-learning by typing ‘TSDS’ into the e-learning course catalogue.

There will be some mandatory training that you must attend. There will also be further training which may be identified by you or your Supervising Social Worker through your supervision meetings and through your annual appraisal.

Your Personal Development Plan (PDP) will set out what you have achieved with training and development and identify any learning needs. You need to keep a running record of the training you’re attending and any other relevant learning on your PDP and then complete the other sections ahead of each annual review. Your Supervising Social Worker will also discuss any help or support needed by your own children.

Training sessions include a 50/50 split between online and in person to allow carers to attend a mixture of training. Childcare may be provided and reasonable expenses may be paid to enable you to attend training.

The Fostering Service is committed to providing tailored training and support to all its foster carers that is based on equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice. You will be provided with a wide variety of training and learning opportunities which are delivered in a variety of formats under 4 main domains:

• Mandatory – 8 courses which all foster carers must complete and have refreshers on;
• Wellbeing – Training and development events that support the wellbeing of you as our foster carers. See also our Foster Carer Wellbeing;
• Bitesize – smaller time commitment and anytime training, e-learning and resources;
• Deep dive – more specialist training or longer time commitment training.

Our e-learning courses written specifically for foster carers can be found at where any course can be searched for in the course catalogue.

A culture of learning is really important in the East Sussex Fostering Service. Do record any relevant books, articles, podcasts, videos or television programmes you have seen/listened to on your PDP (trix please link to templates in the Local Resources and discuss with your Supervising Social Worker.

The Fostering Servicewill provide you with a training programme and you will receive periodic emails with prompts for upcoming training that is still available.  You will be sent an e-certificate to evidence your attendance at training.

Foster Carers can book onto training through the Learning Pool Portal.

Tea and coffee is provided at in-person training courses. Lunch will be provided where possible at any in-person training that goes beyond 1pm. It will be clear on the booking confirmation if lunch is provided, and you’ll be asked to provide any dietary requirements.  

Due to the unpredictable nature of fostering, we understand that sometimes you may be unable to attend a training you have booked on to. If you have booked onto a training course and are then unable to attend, please email csfoster.carertraining@eastsussex.gov.uk as soon as you know you will not be able to attend. This helps with planning group sizes, potentially offering your place to any carers on a waitlist, and plan for lunch and tea/coffee bookings where applicable. We understand that it is the nature of fostering that training will need to be cancelled sometimes at short notice and we are happy to book you onto the next available course if you can’t make one.

If you move to another fostering service, your training portfolio will be transferred if requested.

The TSD workbook as referred to earlier, is mandatory to all new foster carers. In addition, there are 8 mandatory courses which should be refreshed at least every 3 years by all foster carers. The expectation is for both foster carers in a couple to complete the mandatory training. These are:

• Anti-Racist Approach to Fostering;
• Attachment Relationships;
• Core Skills;
• Online Safety and Digital Resilience;
• Paediatric First Aid;
• Safeguarding;
• Safer Caring;
• Supporting contact/family time.

As part of our support to foster carer development and support offer, our foster carers also have access to the buddy scheme. For further information, please see Buddy Scheme Information.

As a fostering service we welcome any feedback regarding training. We are always striving to use our resources in the way that best meets the needs of our foster carers.

We also set-up an annual foster carer training survey which allows us to get feedback of the overall training offer.

If you have any training queries, please email csfoster.carertraining@eastsussex.gov.uk.