Could I Foster?
We are looking for people that have:
- Energy and Drive
- A sense of humour (Always helps)
- A commitment to helping children reach their full potential
- Good communication skills
- A secure home (Doesn't need to be owned)
- At least one spare bedroom
- Time to share your life with a child (from a weekend care to full time)
- No birth children under schooling age
We are looking for people that are:
- At least 21 years old
- Able to drive and have access to a car
Diffrent Types of Foster care
Short Term
This can be from a few weeks to a few years depending on circumstance, and many short term placements go on to become long term ones.
Long Term
This is for placements that will stay with their Foster Families until independence
Emergency
Many times Emergency placements are just that, placed in an Emergency and therefore placement length hasn't yet been planned.
Respite
We provide Respite placements for all our in House placements, giving our carers a well-earned break whilst still carefully managing the environments for the Children and young people taking a lot of the stress out of the situation.
Parent Child
We provide parent and child placements but only if the parent is also a looked after child.
These placement types are regardless of a placements age and therefore can be applied to all looked after children and young people from 0 to 18 years old and in some cases to 21 years old.
What's Involved?
The Application Process
The process is now quicker than ever and works in 2 clear stages.
Stage 1
- Apply online, over the phone, twitter or Facebook.
- One of our team will call you to discuss Fostering further and to answer any questions
- And Application pack will be posted out
- Once an Application form is returned a member of the team will come and visit you to perform a home visit.
- Depending on suitability to Foster applicants will be invited to attend a Skills to Foster Course.
Should this all go o.k and you are happy to proceed, Checks and References will be completed they consist of:
- Enhanced DBS checks
- Medicals (with your own doctor)
- References
- Local Authority Checks
- NSPCC Checks
Once received we can move on to Stage 2
Stage 2
We only head into Stage 2 with applicants that we are confident can be passed as Foster carers.
- Form F Assessment (Completed by a Professional experienced Social Worker)
- Attending Panel (An independent Panel convene to approve new and existing carers)
This probably all sounds very daunting however a member of our team will be at hand for the whole process, and they will keep you informed of progress along the way, the average assessment from Home visit stage to Panel is 4 to 6 months (Depending on applicants making themselves available).
Training and Support
Training
We have an ongoing training programme that's delivered partly in house and partly by expert trainers whose services we bring in, a few of the training courses we cover are here: (This list is not exhaustive)
- First Aid
- Report Writing
- Charms (An online system our carers use to keep daily logs, and log events)
- Behaviour management
- Working with Birth Families
- Child Protection
- Administering medication
- Spotting signs of abuse and neglect
Support
Our support levels are extremely high each of our carers get:
- Dedicated Supervising Social Worker
- Monthly Support drop in sessions (Being introduced 2014)
- 4-6 weekly Home supervisions
- 24/7 Telephone support
- 20 days paid respite care per year
- Representation at meetings (where possible)
Fostering Payments/Fee Rates
Payments are per placement, per week depending on category of need as laid out at time of placement by relevant placing authority.
How Do I Apply?