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The foster carer assessment (Form F), stage by stage
Every prospective foster carer in the UK goes through the same core assessment, built around a report called Form F. It's thorough by design, not because you're under suspicion - a full assessment typically takes four to six months from formal application to panel, and services are required to bring it to panel within eight months at the outside.
Written by Sam Allcock · Last updated 24 August 2026 · Last reviewed 24 August 2026
What Form F actually is
Form F is the standard assessment report used across England and Wales, published and periodically updated by CoramBAAF, the sector body for adoption and fostering agencies. It isn't a form you fill in yourself - it's the document your assigned social worker builds about you and your household over the course of the assessment, drawing on home visits, references, checks and your own account of your life, motivation and capacity to care for a child. [CoramBAAF, Prospective Foster Carer Report (Form F) resources]
The completed Form F is what goes to the fostering panel, and it's the document the panel and the service's decision-maker use to recommend whether you're approved, and as what type of carer.
Stage One: the statutory checks
Assessment is usually described in two stages, though many services now run parts of them alongside each other rather than strictly one after the other. Stage One covers the checks that have a clear pass/fail element:
- An enhanced DBS (criminal record) check for every adult in your household
- A medical assessment, usually carried out by your own GP on the service's behalf
- Local authority checks and, where relevant, employer references
- Personal references, typically at least two, plus a reference from an ex-partner if you have children from a previous relationship
- A home safety check and basic risk assessment of your household
If something in Stage One rules you out, most services aim to tell you within around ten working days rather than carrying you through the fuller Stage Two assessment unnecessarily. [Fosterline (The Fostering Network), "The assessment process"]
Stage Two: the fuller suitability assessment
Stage Two is the deeper, more personal part of assessment. Your social worker will visit your home several times, get to know your household, and assess your ability to care for a child from a different background, culture, ethnicity or religion to your own, alongside your general parenting skills, lifestyle, and any previous experience of caring for children. This is also where preparation training - usually a structured course over several sessions - typically sits.
This is not a test with a single right answer. A good social worker is trying to understand your household honestly, including its limits, so that any approval and any later match with a child is realistic - not to catch you out. Most of the difficult questions asked during assessment (about your own childhood, past relationships, or family history) exist because they're directly relevant to how you'll parent a child who has often experienced trauma.
Panel and the Agency Decision Maker
Once your Form F is complete, it goes to an independent fostering panel, usually made up of social work professionals, a legal adviser, and people with lived experience of fostering or care. The panel reviews your report - typically received at least five working days before the meeting - and makes a recommendation on whether you should be approved, and as what type of carer.
The panel's recommendation isn't the final decision: that's made separately by the service's Agency Decision Maker, usually within about seven days of receiving the panel's minutes. Applicants are normally told the outcome verbally within a couple of days, with written confirmation following within about five working days. If you disagree with the decision, there's typically a 28-day window to ask for it to be reviewed. [Fosterline (The Fostering Network), "The assessment process"]
The honest timescale
typical full assessment, application to panel
Source: Fosterline (The Fostering Network)
statutory ceiling for a panel recommendation, from receipt of application
Source: Fostering Services National Minimum Standards, Standard 14
typical notice if Stage One checks rule you out
Source: Fosterline (The Fostering Network)
Two figures, not one, because they measure different things: four to six months is the realistic average once you're formally in the process, and eight months is the outer statutory limit services must not exceed, not a target they're aiming for. Slow references, delayed medical appointments, ex-partner contact that takes time to trace, or panel scheduling backlogs at busy services are the most common reasons a case runs towards the eight-month end rather than the four-month end.
How this fits the wider journey
Assessment is only the formal middle stage. Most people take two to five years between first thinking seriously about fostering and being approved, factoring in an initial enquiry, a home visit, and genuine reflection time before a formal application even starts - see our full become a foster carer guide for that fuller timeline and the funnel data behind it. And if any part of your circumstances - renting, being single, your age, working full-time - makes you wonder whether you'd even get this far, check our eligibility myth-busting guide before assuming the worst.
Frequently asked questions
What is Form F?
Form F is the standard report a social worker completes about you during assessment, covering your background, household, relationships, motivation and capacity to care for a child. It is the document that goes to the fostering panel and forms the basis of the panel's recommendation.
How long does the assessment actually take?
Most sources put a full assessment, from formal application to panel, at around four to six months. Under the national minimum standards, a fostering panel must make its recommendation within eight months of receiving your application to be assessed, though services aim to be well inside that ceiling and delays with references, medical checks or panel scheduling can still push a case towards it.
Can I be rejected during Stage One?
Yes. Stage One covers the statutory checks - DBS, medical, references, a home safety check - and if these raise something that rules you out, most fostering services aim to tell you within around ten working days rather than letting you continue through the fuller Stage Two assessment unnecessarily.