How did Team Fostering begin?

Team Fostering was created in January 2001, and its founder members and Directors were Peter Richardson, Walter Young and Elaine Young. They all felt strongly that independent fostering services provided to ensure children and young people’s well-being should be done so in a non-profit making way. They believed that there was an opportunity to provide a high standard of care to young people in the area, but to do so in a way that felt authentic, ethical and completely child focussed.

Prior to 2001 Peter and Walter had both gained extensive experience in both local authority children’s services and in the fostering sector. They took a leap of faith and left their jobs with a Fostering Agency to create Team Fostering, believing in the not- for- profit ethic as a standard they wished to apply to their newly created Agency.

At the time Team Fostering was a new entity, an unknown and unproven organisation in the world of fostering in the NE. Without office premises they started the business in Elaine and Walter’s kitchen, around their kitchen table in Whitley Bay, near Newcastle. They employed a small staff team of people with whom they had previously worked and knew had the same mindset as themselves. It was a brave move for all involved but within a few weeks their first foster carers were approved and they started on their journey towards offering high quality foster care in the North East.

As the Agency grew and more foster carers were approved, the staff team and business infrastructure also grew and the Directors rented premises in Wallsend, Newcastle. In 2003, following a couple of successful years, they expanded the business and opened an office in Sheffield. Once the Sheffield office was established they expanded into bigger office premises in North Shields and later opened offices in the Middlesborough and the East Midlands areas.

New foster carers are not only drawn to Team Fostering by its not-for-profit status and its key values, but also for the emphasis on our ‘children first’ ethos and our commitment to providing the best possible all round care for those children and young people for whom we care for.

Many of the staff and foster carers who joined in 2001 have remained with Team Fostering throughout their careers and witnessed the Agency blossom from the legendary ‘kitchen table’ beginning to the successful Agency of today.

Rosy Holden,

Team Fostering member and former CEO