Pause and reflect foster care

Pause and Reflect (PAR) is a short-term fostering arrangement, which provides children and young people with a supportive and stable home for a period of up to 28 days, while their longer term care needs are considered. A PAR home is often used for children who are coming into foster care for the first time and little is known about them, or where family finding for a child has been unable to identify a mainstream home for the child. The children who are cared for under PAR arrangements can be of any age, but typically will have an increased level of need. The 28 day period of PAR offers an opportunity for the professionals involved, the child, and their family to work together to identify the child's next home, whether this is a return to their family with support, or a move to a task centred fostering home.

We are not currently recruiting new Pause and Reflect carers, but there may be opportunities for experienced carers to undertake this type of foster care in the future. When we have a vacancy, there is a recruitment process via an expression of interest form where foster carers will be required to evidence skills in managing complex behaviours.

Find out more

To find out more about fostering or if you are an experienced foster carer and are interested in transferring to Foster for Lancashire please call our friendly team on 0300 019 0200, or complete our enquiry form.

Support

Enhanced support is provided to carers by the fostering service and increased payments of up to £1,136.49 per week with 16 year old child or £878.65 per week for 2 week planned break, or around £55,000 per year including paid breaks. After 56 days of Pause and Reflect arrangements being in place, the foster carers are given a paid break of 14 days before becoming available to offer further Pause and Reflect arrangements.

We support our foster carers offering Pause and Reflect arrangements with weekly meetings with the social work team and other professionals involved with the child and SCAYT+ (Supporting Carers and Young People Together) and outreach support is also available.

Find out more about the benefits and support we offer to all of our foster carers.

Elaine and Barry's story

Our foster carers Elaine and Barry talk about Pause and Reflect foster care. Elaine said:

When Pause and Reflect (PAR) was first put forward by Lancashire County Council Fostering Service, I thought it would suit myself and my husband perfectly. We had the necessary experience and were no longer in a position to offer long term fostering, this therefore felt like an ideal arrangement for us.

"We also appreciated and supported the aims behind the scheme. The 28 days gives everyone the chance to literally pause and reflect on what the best long-term plan is for the child. It is also a time for us to engage with the young person and find out what they would like to happen.

"So far, we have undertaken five PAR fostering arrangements and all of them have been different! Some of the children had experienced family breakdowns and others had experienced unplanned endings in their fostering homes. We have been amazed by the resilience of these young people in dealing with what must be a very traumatic time in their lives.

"A lot of the time, it has felt as though the young people do not present as "difficult" or indeed with the same issues that were outlined when the match was first made. Maybe this is the "honeymoon period". Pause and Reflect enables all to find the right home for the child.

"The support from Lancashire County Council has been amazing, with weekly meetings (sometimes more!), weekly visits and telephone support.

"I would recommend Pause and Reflect to all foster carers as you really can make a difference to the young person's future by ensuring time has been taken to find the right home."

Real-life story: Tori

Elaine and Barry cared for Tori, aged 14, under a Pause and Reflect arrangement. Tori was 14 and came to live with us after experiencing a breakdown in her fostering home, the second that she had experienced in a short space of time. Prior to this Tori had been in her fostering home for nine years. When Tori arrived, she was nervous about her future, her neurodiversity added to her anxious presentation.

Whilst caring for Tori it quickly became apparent that she needed to be the only young person in the home, she was emotionally very young and enjoyed being at the centre of the household. Whilst living with us, Tori's behaviour was great, and we experienced no challenge with her.

Prior to Tori's arrival we were told that her access to the internet needed to be restricted and supervised, as foster carers offering Pause and Reflect arrangements we had always held the view that we did not want to "sweat the small stuff", and so we supported this throughout her time with us. We accepted that at 14, Tori would like to spend a lot of time on the computer, and that her bedroom would often be a total mess!

Tori was keen to be involved in deciding her care plan, and through the weekly visits and meetings we were able to ensure that her voice was heard, making sure we made decisions with Tori and not for her!