• Standard 1:
  Understand the principles and values essential for fostering children and young people
• Standard 2:
  Understand your role as a foster carer
• Standard 3:
  U understand health and safety, and healthy care
• Standard 4:
  K now how to communicate effectively
• Standard 5:
  U understand the development of children and young people
• Standard 6:
  Keep children and young people safe from harm
• Standard 7:
  D develop yourself - addresses the continuing professional development and specialist needs of foster carers

The standards are underpinned by the Principles and Values Statement which applies to all work with children, young people and their families and specifically cross references to Standard 1.

In each of the seven standards there are a number of topics that you will need to know about.  Each topic indicates what you need to know or be able to do and these are called ‘outcomes’.  You will need to evidence what you have learned in a number of different ways.  For example, you might achieve this by showing, doing or explaining things based on your learning through attending training courses inc NVQ, this could also be achieved through reading and discussions with your link worker or other foster carers, your own experiences and any other relevant activities.

The purpose of this workbook is to enable you to plan how you will provide evidence that you have met the standards. You are not expected to know all the outcomes straight away.  The outcomes say what you will know at the end of the process.  Kirklees Family Placement Team will support you every step of the way.

All Kirklees foster carers will receive support and supervision from their link worker and have a personal development plan which sets out what learning their needs are. This plan will be reviewed at your Annual Foster Carer Review.

Your link worker is responsible for assessing how you are applying your learning to your job as a foster carer and for identifying any extra learning or support that you might need.  When you are able to provide sufficient evidence that you have met the learning outcome your assigned link worker will sigh of the section, this will apply to each outcome. 
On completion, a manager or training officer at Kirklees will check to ensure that the workbook has been completed satisfactorily.  You will then be presented with the CWDC Certificate of Successful Completion.

For more information please visit www.cwdcouncil.org.uk