As a former LA foster carer, I can tell you that the process is entirely unlike either new parenthood or adoption.

A foster placement can turn up at less than a day's notice. You may have them for less than a week or more than a year. They may need supervised contact with birth families or be in active protection from their birth families. They can be anywhere from new born to teenaged.

Generally, foster care is also pretty incompatible with a typical two-person-working household as even if a child is school age they will have to be dropped off and collected and someone will have to be at home with them and attentive to them if they are in the house.

All of this to say that you will never be able to write a policy that will accommodate the needs of the average foster household and you would be ill-advised to try.

I signed our group up to the Fostering Friendly scheme a couple of years ago. More details can be found here: www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/.../fostering-friendly