When you’re weighing up whether to become a foster carer, there are a lot of factors to consider. From the impact on your current lifestyle, to your financial situation and even your career plans, its well worth taking the time to think about the life changes you’ll need to make when you go into fostering. The fees you’ll be paid and the support you’ll receive as a carer can often heavily influence your decisions around the agency you choose to foster with.

With that in mind, Team Fostering have created a comprehensive package of fees and support for our foster carers. Our goal is to ensure that our carers have the back-up they need to provide the highest standard of support to the children and young people they care for.

This year we increased our fees and allowances; the amount you receive as a carer depends on the age of the child placed with you, so for most of our carers who support children aged 11 and above, from 2020 they are paid £469.45 per week*. On this basis, your income could total up to £24,411.40 per year. (This includes 14 nights’ unused Short Break Care allowance.)  Many of our carers have more than one child placed with them at any given time, so receive the same amount again for additional children. This ensures that our carers can provide everything that a child needs for their life with them, including food, clothing, transport and activities.

In addition to that, our team works hard to provide extensive day-to-day support to our carers. Each foster carer has a dedicated Supervising Social Worker assigned to them, available for questions, concerns and support – and 24/7 support is also available from additional Supervising Social Workers if required – meaning we’ll always be on hand if you need our help. Our friendly and welcoming Placements Teams, based locally in each region, will get to know you well with the hope of placing the most suitably matched children or young people with you.

As Foster Carer Kirsty explained, regarding COVID-19; “Team Fostering have been with us during every day of this and have supported every decision we’ve made. Our Supervising Social Worker has been a constant throughout the placement, always being there to support us whenever we’ve needed it, more often than not outside of hours.”

Our Education and Support Service provides bespoke support for the needs of the young people you care for, while also planning a comprehensive programme of events and activities (as far as social distancing allows at this time!) Our peer mentoring and Carer Support groups also provide an opportunity for you to share your thoughts and experiences with those in a similar situation to you. This means there are always people to reach out to if you need help, guidance, or even just a friendly face.

You’ll have continuous training and development opportunities available to you throughout the year, and in the current circumstances our Training team have been working hard to provide online and virtual options while social distancing continues.

Foster Carer Catherine agrees: “If you are thinking about fostering, Team Fostering offers a huge amount of support and training. They go above and beyond when you need support in hard times, and they’re fun!”

With additional benefits available including membership to a Life Assurance scheme, Car Mileage allowance, up to 14 nights’ Short Break Care and a Christmas Gift allowance, Team Fostering offers an extensive package of support to all of our carers. If you decide to take the step towards fostering with us, we’ll ensure you receive everything you’re entitled to to help you provide the best possible care to the young people you support. 

 

If you’re interested by our support options and considering becoming a foster carer with Team Fostering, you can contact us in the following ways: