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I'm an adopter rather than a foster carer so feel free to ignore me. I suppose the obvious question for me is why have you changed your mind? Why now have you decided consider fostering instead of adopting? The two are very different and presumably you had good reasons for choosing adoption in the first place. So what's happened now to change your mind?I would imagine that, yes, you probably would have to do another homestudy for fostering but I'm sure someone is more knowledgeable than I am and will be able to confirm that. Adoption is permanent, fostering isn't and so very different.

I am fairly certain that you will have to undertake the training, although the actual homestudy part will possibly be less ( assuming you are thinking of fostering witht he same LA.If not you will have to start again) There are many additional elements to fostering that need careful thought, which is why extra preparation should be given. Have you looked at the Fostering Network website and looked at their publications , which may be very helpful for you.

We thought about this option but were advised to think very carefully as if we were to foster we would not be then considered for adoption if a child came up....it was 10 years ago so things maybe different.We decided not as i think the emotional stress of giving them back when we so wanted a child to call ours -conflict of interest.

While the homestudy is similar, the process of fostering is very different to adoption, and I think giving up on adoption would be perceived as a loss/bereavement, so you would have to have a cooling off period before being considered.Why have you reconsidered? While I think the transition of fostering to adoption can be a very natural one, especially with specific children, I'm not sure about the other way round. Fostering is definitely not a quick route to adoption - only a small number of children who are fostered move onto adoptive placements.However, if you think your talents lie better with fostering, the homestudy you have done and prep will stand you in good stead, as the process is similar.