Refer a Friend scheme

Get up to £500 when you refer a friend to apply to be one of our foster carers, and how our Refer a Friend scheme works.

Do you know someone else who would make a great foster carer?

You can get up to £500 when you refer a friend to apply to be one of our foster carers.

As a member of our fostering family, we think you've got a pretty good idea of what it takes to make a great foster carer and we'd love your help in recruiting even more amazing foster families.

If you've discussed fostering with a friend, family, colleague, or with other people you come into regular contact with and you think they have got the skills and qualities it takes to foster, then we'd love to learn more.

Who you can recommend

If you're one of our foster carers, you can recommend anyone you think would make a good foster carer and is interested in fostering. This could be a relative, friend or neighbour. If they have what it takes, we'd love to hear from them.

Remember, there's no typical foster carer. The person you recommend can be any age, married, single or divorced, from any religious or cultural background.

Your friend or relative needs to:

• be interested in being a foster carer
• be over 21 years old
• have a right to live in the UK
• live in Bristol or be able to drop the kids off to school in Bristol
• have a spare room in their home
• pass a criminal record check (DBS check)

Many people are interested in fostering but think that their age, sexual orientation, background, or relationship status mean they're not suitable. That is wrong. This is why it's so important to encourage anyone who would make a great carer to get in touch with us.

We have a lot of children who need foster homes, so we're always looking for more foster carers!

How to refer a friend

Tell a friend or relative why you think they'd make a good foster carer, and how rewarding it is to foster with Bristol.

If your friend or relative decides to give it a try, ask them to:

• call us on 0117 353 4200
• email fostering@bristol.gov.uk

Make sure they tell us you referred them. You should also tell your supervising social worker that they're interested and will get in touch.

What happens next

When your friend or relative contacts us, we'll discuss the role with them and their suitability.

If we think they have potential to be a good carer, we'll arrange for someone from our fostering team to visit them at home.

If we all decide to move ahead with the assessment process, we'll give you a £200 reward, which we'll pay into your bank account.

Once your friend or relative has gone through the assessment process, their application will go to the Fostering panel. If the panel approves the application, we'll pay a further £300 reward into your bank account once the person you recommended actively starts to foster.