Sometimes your mam or dad may need to ask someone to look after you for a while. If you are under 16, or under 18 if you are disabled, and you stay with someone who isn’t a close relative for more than 28 days then this is called private fostering. The person you are staying with is called a private foster carer. They may be a cousin, a neighbour or family friend.
You are privately fostered if:
- you are staying with friends – perhaps you aren’t getting on with your family
- you have come to the UK to study and your parents or carers live overseas
- you live with a friend’s family because your parent’s study or work unsociable hours, which makes it difficult to use ordinary day care or after-school care
You are not privately fostered if:
- you are staying with grandparents, older sister or brother, auntie, or uncle – these people are called close relatives
- you go away with a friend and their parents for two weeks holiday
- you spend most of the week living with your mam and stay with dad at the weekend
If you are being privately fostered your mam, dad, private foster carers or yourself must let the council know by contacting First Contact:
- by telephone on 03000 26 79 79
- by email firstcontact@durham.gov.uk
For more information about private fostering, view the Private Fostering pages on Durham County Council’s website.