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.
Who you can recommend
If you're one of our foster carers, you can recommend anyone who you think would make a good foster carer and who's interested in fostering. This could be a relative, friend or neighbour. If they have energy, patience and understanding, and a spare room in their home, 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's not the case at all. This is why it's so important to encourage anyone who'd make a great carer to get in touch with us.
Making a recommendation doesn't mean you'll be getting less placements. We have a lot of children who need a foster home, 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 really good foster carer, and how rewarding it is to be a foster carer with us.
If your friend or relative decides to give it a try, ask them to get in touch with us:
- over the phone, on 0117 353 4200
- by email to fostering@bristol.gov.uk
Make sure they tell us you referred them, so you can get your Refer a Friend reward.
What happens next
When your friend or relative gets in touch with us, we'll have a chat with them.
If we think they'll be a good fit, 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 it, we'll pay a further £300 reward into your bank account, once the person you recommended gets their first placement.
We'll support your friend or relative throughout the application process, and we'll continue to support them during and between placements.
