Child Safety for Foster Carers
Specialist safety guidance for foster carers. Understand the unique online and offline risks for looked-after children and how to create a safe, supportive environment.
Foster carers face unique safeguarding challenges. The children in your care may have experienced trauma, may use technology to maintain contact with birth families, or may have developed risky online habits before placement. This guide helps you navigate these complexities while meeting your safeguarding obligations and building trust with the children you look after.
Why this matters
Looked-after children are statistically more vulnerable to online exploitation, grooming, and cyberbullying. They may have had inconsistent supervision before entering care and may use online relationships to fill emotional gaps. Your awareness and proactive approach to digital safety can be life-changing for these children.
Quick wins
Review the child's devices and update privacy settings within the first week of placement
Time: 30 minutes
Discuss digital contact arrangements with the child's social worker
Time: 15 minutes
Pin the emergency contacts sheet somewhere visible in your home
Time: 5 minutes
Common challenges
Managing contact with birth families through social media and messaging apps
Work with the child's social worker to establish clear digital contact arrangements. Know which platforms the child uses and ensure any contact aligns with the care plan. Document any concerns promptly.
Children arriving with devices you have not set up or checked
When a child is placed, review their devices as part of the settling-in process. Use our device guides to check privacy settings and parental controls. Frame it as keeping them safe, not taking things away.
Balancing safeguarding duties with the child's right to privacy
Looked-after children have a right to age-appropriate privacy, but your safeguarding duty comes first. Be transparent about what you monitor and why. Regular, open check-ins are more effective than covert surveillance.