Independent Fostering Assessments

Two experienced assessors working together to deliver well considered, balanced and insightful, Coram BAAF Form F based fostering assessments.

Click Here

What we do

Our approach

We bring a collaborative, two-assessor approach to every fostering assessment. We combine current social work practice with lived fostering experience. Working together throughout the process, we offer applicants a supportive, joined-up experience while producing reflective, strengths-based and balanced assessments.

What makes us different

Our approach is genuinely collaborative. Every assessment is shaped by two experienced assessors working together from start to finish, bringing two perspectives, shared reflection and a built-in second opinion. This creates a more balanced, thoughtful and supportive assessment experience for applicants, while giving agencies confidence in the quality and depth of the final report.

How we do it

We meet applicants together at the start, midway and end of the assessment. In between, we each meet them separately, so they get time with both of us. From our initial insights we set a bespoke homestudy, building on it throughout. Between visits we hold regular reflective sessions with each other. Each session informs the next and key themes are explored as they arise. This keeps the process joined-up and gives every assessment a built-in second opinion.

Who we are

We are Jane and Michelle, experienced independent foster carer assessors with over 20 years’ combined experience assessing and supervising foster carers. Jane began her career in teaching before qualifying as a social worker, with extensive experience supporting adults and children with disabilities, as well as lived experience as a foster carer. Michelle brings a background in community filmmaking, fostering and social work, including experience as a family court magistrate. Since 2022, we have worked together as a joint assessment partnership, combining our professional expertise, lived fostering experience and two complementary perspectives to support applicants through a thorough, thoughtful and confidence-building assessment process.

Our journey

We came into this work from very different directions, with different backgrounds and different fostering experiences behind us, and that contrast is exactly what we think makes the partnership work. Jane comes from an extended fostering family and has carried long term placements herself. Michelle's fostering was short term, including remand placements and adolescents. We see applicants through two genuinely different lenses, and bring different life experiences to the table, which means a more rounded picture and fewer blind spots. Both of us currently supervise foster carers within an outstanding local authority, so alongside our differences we share a common grounding in current, frontline practice.