Fostering a baby is a powerful way to change a life at its very beginning. For many people, the idea of caring for a baby is what first sparks an interest in fostering. And with 4% of all children in care in Wales being aged under 1 (Gov.wales 2024), we need those foster carers who are willing to provide babies with a safe, loving home for the short term.
If you’re exploring whether fostering a baby could be right for you, this guide explains what to expect, the support available, and why flexibility is key.
what does fostering a baby involve?
Fostering a baby is about offering comfort, consistency and care at a crucial time in their life. From feeding and settling them to sleep, to responding to their cries and cues, you’ll be helping a baby feel safe and soothed in an unfamiliar world. Babies may come into your care suddenly, so patience, warmth and flexibility are key.
While fostering babies can be incredibly rewarding, it often comes with realities that people don’t always expect. Being open about those realities is one of the most important ways to help prospective carers feel confident, prepared, and supported.
“I’ve learned more since we started fostering babies than I ever did during my nearly 22 years of fostering, and even more than I learned raising my own two daughters. And the learning doesn’t stop; I keep discovering more every single day. You wouldn’t think a baby could teach you so much! I’ve enjoyed every minute – it’s been an absolute joy.”
Viv, Foster Carer
why fostering babies matters
The early years are incredibly important for a child’s mental and physical development. It’s a time when infants build foundational skills like communication, trust, emotional regulation and attachment. Being present for these milestones and going along the child’s journey will give them long-term benefits throughout their life.
It’s important to understand that foster babies may arrive into foster care without much notice and may carry complex histories. Your care, patience and consistency can help them feel safe and understood – a springboard for future positive relationships.
“Whatever a child has experienced in the past, they start associating different experiences and new routines with their foster families.”
Jennie, Foster Carer
do I need a spare room?
A question we’re often asked is whether you need a spare room to foster. While babies can sleep in a cot in your bedroom during the early months, most local authorities require foster carers to be approved for a wider age range, not just infants. Because of this, they usually expect you to have a spare bedroom available.
So, although a baby doesn’t need their own room immediately and can safely share your room for a time, fostered children will eventually need their own space. This means that having a spare bedroom is essential for most fostering approvals, even if you hope to care for babies initially. Letting children grow into a room of their own is an important part of providing them with stability and room to develop.
who can foster babies?
Anyone from a wide range of backgrounds can foster babies, and there is no single “type” of person who is right for the role. Foster carers can be single or in a couple, renting or owning their home, and they may or may not already have children of their own. What matters most is the ability to provide a safe, stable, and nurturing environment, along with the time, patience, and commitment to meet a child’s needs.
While having experience caring for young children – whether through parenting, childcare roles, early years education, or informal family support – can help prospective foster carers feel more confident in understanding a baby’s needs and settling into the role, it is not a requirement.
Foster carers come from all walks of life, and lived experience, empathy, and a willingness to learn are just as important as practical considerations. With the right training and support, many people who might not initially see themselves as foster carers can go on to make a life-changing difference to a child.
“I had been a nursery nurse for over 20 years, and I absolutely adore children. I just thought, “What could I do that could use the skills I’ve already got?” And I started Googling everything about fostering and could I be a foster parent as a single parent, and I just went from there.”
Debbie, Foster carer
time, work, and daily life
One of the more practical advantages of fostering a baby is how easily they can fit into your day-to-day life. Meeting friends for lunch, popping to the supermarket, or heading out for a short trip are often simpler with a baby, who can usually come along with you. There are no negotiations or no after-school schedules to juggle, that can sometimes come with caring for older children.
That said, it’s important to remember that fostering a baby still requires you to be flexible. When a baby is in your care, they may have regular meet-ups with family members, which can be on a daily basis in the early days. And if adoption is the plan for the child, then “introductions” are an intensive period of preparing a child to move on to their new adoptive family, which can be emotional for everyone involved.
being available during the day
One of the biggest realities of fostering babies is time. Someone needs to be available during the day, as babies cannot fit around work schedules or rely on traditional nurseries and day care. Fostering babies requires carers to bond and be a trusted person who responds to their needs.
balancing fostering with work
Fostering babies can be challenging to balance alongside other work commitments, including shift-based roles, but it can be achieved with careful planning, flexibility, and a reliable support network. Some households manage this by sharing care between partners or trusted family members for short periods. What matters most is being realistic about what is manageable and ensuring the baby’s needs always come first.
the emotional side: bonding and letting go
Becoming attached to a baby in your care is both beautiful and emotional. Babies thrive on close relationships, and fostering them means giving them the warmth and attention they need to develop trust and security.
At the same time, there may come a point when a baby returns to their birth family or moves to an adoptive home. Foster carers often say this can be one of the hardest parts of fostering, but knowing you’ve helped lay the foundation for their future gives many foster carers great comfort.
Many foster carers stay in touch with adopters or birth families and continue to be part of a child’s life as they grow up, exchanging birthday cards and small updates along the way. Another thoughtful thing foster carers often do is create a memory box of “firsts”, which may include photographs and special keepsakes marking milestones such as a child’s first steps, smiles, and giggles.
“People often say they couldn’t foster babies because they’d love them too much. But that’s the whole point. You have to love them – completely and unconditionally. You have to be the person who gives them that safety and security, who helps them form a secure attachment. And you simply can’t do that without falling in love with them. Yes, it hurts when they leave, because love hurts, but it is absolutely worth it.”
Trish, Foster Carer
long-term planning for babies
When fostering babies or toddlers, we need to think about the longer-term plan and who is in the best position to meet their needs through to adulthood.
Here is what you should expect when fostering children at this age:
1. rehabilitation home to parents
When fostering babies, it’s important to remember that the primary goal is the safety of the child, and as a foster carer, you’ll be offering a safe harbour in a time of need. Throughout the baby’s time in foster care, social services will often work with the parents to make the changes needed for the child to be safely cared for before they return to their parents.
2. Special Guardianship Order (SGO)
A grandparent, aunt, uncle, or close family friend may be suitable to care for the child. A Special Guardianship Order may be granted by a court to allow a family member or someone close to the child to care for them on a long-term basis, maintaining links with their birth family. This is a common outcome when it’s decided that the parents may not be able to provide adequate care. This is one of the more ideal outcomes for the child, as we believe it’s important for children to grow up alongside family where this is safely possible. However, we understand that taking on a baby as a grandparent comes with its own set of challenges.
3. Adoption
254 children were adopted from care in 2023/2024. The majority of children adopted were aged 1-4 years old, and most are adopted within their first year of being in care.
Fostering is not a typical route to adopting a child. However, a small proportion of children (16.5%) are adopted by their former foster carer. But if you are looking to adopt, then your local adoption service would be your first port of call.
preparing to foster babies
So, what is it really like preparing to foster a baby? One of the most important things to understand is that many babies coming into care have already experienced trauma in some form. This may be physical, emotional, or developmental, and in some cases, babies may have been exposed to drugs or alcohol in pregnancy and show signs of withdrawal, or foetal alcohol syndrome. Others may have experienced stress, neglect, or instability before they are even born, or during the very early days of life.
Foster carers need to be prepared for what they may encounter when they first meet a baby. This could include medical uncertainty, developmental delays, or behaviours linked to early trauma. In some situations, carers may be asked to collect a baby directly from hospital or directly from their birth mother, which can be emotionally complex and, at times, uncomfortable. These moments can feel awkward or intense, particularly for people who have not experienced them before, but they are a real part of fostering babies.
Being prepared for these realities does not mean having all the answers. It means understanding that fostering a baby is not just about care and routine, but about responding calmly and compassionately to early experiences that may have already shaped that child’s start in life. With the right preparation and support, foster carers can provide the stability and reassurance babies need at a crucial time.
Our Foster Wales learning and development framework offers you excellent opportunities to learn more about the impact of substance misuse, withdrawal, early trauma when caring for young babies.
parent and child fostering
At Foster Wales, we also support parent and child fostering, which involves supporting babies alongside their parents.
Through this type of fostering, you help keep families together, whilst teaching parents new skills, providing a listening ear and nurturing their relationship with their children. The goal of this specialist type of fostering is for you to care for a parent who really needs support, so they can build up the skills they need, both personally and for their child.
Parents might need this type of fostering due to a lack of home support or difficult circumstances, which can often lead to them needing guidance to provide safe care for their baby. It’s important not to judge the parent, and we provide extensive training for anybody interested in this type of fostering.
am I eligible to foster a baby?
To become a foster carer in Wales (and the rest of the UK), you’ll need to:
- Be aged at least 18 (although most fostering services will ask you to be 21) and have the right to live in the UK.
- Complete a fostering assessment to ensure you can provide stable, nurturing care.
- Have enough time, energy and emotional availability to meet an infant’s needs
While having a support network and a safe home environment is important, you don’t need to already have children of your own to be a good foster carer. We truly believe that what matters most is your heart and commitment to making foster children’s lives better.
support every step of the way
We’ve had many success stories when it comes to fostering babies, and if you decide to foster, we offer comprehensive support, such as 24/7 access to advice and guidance, as well as in-depth training. You can also bring any little ones you might be looking after to most of these support sessions. Everyone loves a cwch!
On top of training, we understand that social situations can be more complicated than people expect. Traditional parent-and-baby groups might not always feel comfortable or inclusive for foster carers, whether due to age differences, different life experiences, or uncertainty about what can be shared. Recognising this, some areas in Wales have developed tailored support and groups specifically for foster carers with babies, creating spaces where carers feel understood, supported, and able to build confidence alongside others in similar situations.
Your own children, whether grown up or still living at home, and wider family can all play a part in caring for a baby. From playing with toys, watching TV shows or helping to fetch things you need, everyone loves to offer a helping hand and a quick cuddle.
“Fostering babies brings us closer together as a family”
Jennie, Foster Carer
the reality of fostering babies
It’s completely natural to feel drawn to fostering babies, but it’s important to know that it’s one of the most popular types of fostering. This means there are often more carers waiting than babies needing care.
The majority of babies are fostered by local authority foster carers, so if you are looking to foster babies, your local Foster Wales team would be the best choice. That doesn’t mean babies are constantly available, though. Babies don’t arrive in a steady stream. Instead, they tend to come in waves — several babies needing care at once, followed by long quiet periods. For people who only want to foster babies, this can mean long waits without fostering, which can be frustrating.
We encourage prospective carers to consider a wider age range as a result. Children of all ages need foster homes, and being open-minded can help you be matched sooner, discovering a type of fostering you may not have originally considered. Many carers are surprised by how rewarding it feels to care for toddlers or older children, even if that wasn’t their first plan.
become a foster parent
Being honest about the realities of fostering babies is not about discouraging people. It is about helping them to make informed decisions and feel ready for what lies ahead.
Every baby deserves a safe, loving start. By choosing to foster babies with Foster Wales, you could make a lasting difference to a child’s life. Think you’ve got what it takes? Get in touch with us and start giving babies throughout Wales the beginning they deserve.
