Top Tips for your Foster Home Insurance

To a foster carer, 9 to 5 may not mean a great deal: caring for children and young adults is a 24-hour job, so we understand that sorting out your home insurance might not be at the top of your priority list. However when your renewal date starts approaching you need to start thinking about if your home is properly covered to take into consideration your role as a foster carer.

Find the right foster home insurance cover for you

Yes, insurers may be okay with providing cover for a foster family home, but is the policy tailored to cover potential challenges you may face as a foster carer?

Our top tip – Make sure to check different aspects of cover like ‘is there a limitation of how many foster children I may have at one time?’ ‘Do we need to tell you when we get new placements?’ At Towergate, we offer a specialist foster home insurance policy which covers up to four foster children in your care at any one time and we do not need to be notified when you have any new placements.

The right home insurance for your foster children

While you may treat foster children as part of the family, this could be considered a restriction on the policy. Intentional damage or theft by family members are not usually covered under a standard home insurance policy, so if foster children are formally recognised as family members, this may limit potential incidents for which you would be eligible to claim.

Our top tip – Some insurers provide specialist home policies that do not define foster children as ‘family’, which means that, although you may never need it, if a foster child does intentionally damage your home or possessions, or steals from you, you will be covered for this.

Common foster home insurance exclusions

On a standard home policy, some insurance companies may apply exclusions and limitations, such as not providing cover for foster children’s belongings in your home. Also, if you ever need to make a claim that involves a child in your care, you may be required to provide personal information such as the background of the child.

Our top tip – Make sure you check that your home insurance provides cover for foster children’s contents. At Towergate not only do we include cover for any foster child’s items in the home, but also we do not require any personal information.

Foster home insurance from Towergate

Hopefully these tips have provided an insight into the world of specialist home insurance and given you some guidance on what to be looking out for when thinking about your foster home insurance renewal.

To learn more about Towergate’s specialist foster home policy, created alongside The Fostering Network, visit our specialist foster home insurance webpage, call our team of advisors on 01438 739 861 or email newhome@towergate.co.uk.

 

About the author

James Cooper is a respected industry leader with over 10 years' experience in the home and property insurance sector. He works across a broad range of insurance product and policy development and delivery, including product development; customer sales and marketing; and P&L accountability.