Location: Lincoln Salary: Competitive - please see advert for details Contract: Zero Hours Hours: Part Time - Ad hoc Closing: 26 March 2024 The Children’s Family Trust (CFT) is a well-established Registered Charity and an Independent Fostering Agency. We provide a wide and varied range of foster placements and have historically specialised in long term ‘Family for Life’ placements. We firmly believe our Foster Carers are our most valuable resource deserving the highest levels of support and remuneration we can offer. We work in partnership with Local Authority Social Workers committed to keeping our children safe and secure in stable and loving families.
Due to continued success and growth we are looking for independent, self-employed FORM F ASSESSORS For our East Midlands and Lincolnshire Regions The Core Tasks:
You will need to be a qualified social worker and registered with Social Work England, have previous experience of completing Form F Assessments. Pay:
The Children’s Family Trust is an equal opportunities employer and committed to promoting the welfare and safeguarding of children, ensuring that they are kept safe. As you will be in an environment which involves child protection and working with Looked After Children, you will need to be covered by an enhanced DBS clearance and provide satisfactory references and overseas police check (if needed). Full details and application details here Everything you need to know from Practice Team Manager, Liz Oldfield. We sat down with our South East Practice Team Manager, Liz Oldfield to discuss the in’s and out’s of fostering a parent and their child. In this post you’ll find out why there’s a national emphasis on this type of fostering, how vital it can be in breaking generational cyles of children entering care and the expected outcomes and practices versus traditional, mainstream fostering. Many people may not know that Parents and their children require fostering through the same services as young children, how long has it been around in a formal capacity? It’s hard to define really, but certainly over the last decade the need has grown. That may be because courts are keener to keep mothers and babies together. But most certainly it is the most sought after placement we get asked for. Why are we seeing such an influx of referrals, now more than ever? The impetus is definitely coming from the courts to do everything possible before they remove a child, especially a baby. But we get referrals for a mum who’s maybe had 5 children removed. There are incentives out there about trying to do it differently THIS time and to acknowledge that maybe the support just wasn’t there the first time around for parents. Lets ramp up that support instead of doing the same thing and have the same results. Lets stop that revolving door of children coming into care and their children coming into care and put extra resource in to support this parent. Is it a service specifically for women and babies? What are the outcomes of Parent and Child fostering? It is Dad’s aswell. Mum’s, Dad’s and Child or just Dad’s and Child. It’s why it was renamed Parent and child instead of mummy and baby which we used to call it. So, once we’ve given them all the support we can, then it’s down to the family to really do it on their own. But you’re giving them every possible chance to learn maybe what they didn’t learn from their parents about parenting. It’s about learning in a safe and supportive environment where there’s less pressure on them from other things like managing finances, other people or influences. They don’t leave until they can understand finances and manage their money, they can cook for themselves, they can feed their baby, they can clothe their baby, they can wash their baby and understand health and hygiene and so forth. Placements typically last between 3-4 months or once they’ve demonstrated all these skills. Parents may have aspirations for their future and facilitating that through training, education etc. It may even be as simple as mixing with other people, going to baby groups going to mum and toddler groups. Just getting them to have positive relationships because often they haven’t had that in the past. We do a lot of independent skills with them and sometime aspirations can be unrealistic but entering education would be something they’re expected to do. Stepping stones, and understanding what is feasible at that particular time. Source: https://thecft.org.uk/ Societal prejudice that exasperates trauma As a population we often forget that children are in care through no fault of their own, and we brand them with societally held prejudices that exasperates their trauma. Their actions when experiencing trauma (and the upheaval of everything they know) cannot be helped without the therapeutic support from a supportive, confident & well trained care giver. We see daily how therapeutic and tailored support makes small, incremental changes in our children’s behaviour and attitudes towards their futures. Small changes that snowball into monumental moments that beforehand, seemed far out of reach. Small changes create monumental moments. This has been the reality for our North East foster carer Debbie and her foster daughter, SW. SW came to The CFT with a reputation as a bit of trouble-maker who frequently absconded from school. But through the hardwork of her care givers and her sheer focus and determination has turned her school life around and is now an A-Level student with hopes of becoming a primary school teacher. Debbie wanted to share this fantastic milestone through our Andrew Turner Award which SW was awarded, acknowledging her unbelievable turn-around. Here’s Debbie’s nomination in full – When S came to us in 2021, she came with a reputation as a bit of a troublemaker in school, having been known to runaway. It was clear at the end of year 10 that this school was not suitable or meeting S’s needs. We fought social workers, schools and all the relevant people who said moving her at this point in her studies was wrong. We persevered and won the battle and S began her final year of school at a different academy. Despite changing some subjects, or modules it was clear if S was going to achieve at the end of the year (and prove that we were right to move her), that she was going to have to work very hard, and boy did she. When many of friends were out socialising, S would be found with her head in her books, studying at any free opportunity she had. She had to be encouraged to take a break, but she was determined. At the end of her school year she passed every single subject, and although she had to condense two years of study into just 9 months, she gained an average “6” in her subjects. December last year S was invited back to school for an awards ceremony that we attended with her. S picked up 3 individual awards: Progress in Geography, Achievement in Food and Nutrition and Pastoral Team Award. S has now begun her A-Level studies with the aim of eventually becoming a primary school teacher. Hopefully S is as proud of herself as we are of her!! Confident carers providing the best chance for children to thrive As a foster carer with The CFT – Confidence is a huge part of ensuring as a team we provide the best outcomes for our children. Confidence means being steadfast in the face of adversity. Confidence means demonstrating that when you know something isn’t right, to fight for positive changes no matter the barriers. We stand alongside our carers, who arguably get to know their foster children much better than any teacher or health professional ever could. Fighting for change meant SW had the best possible chance to make her future a reality, making positive choices at home and in school. What an outstanding achievement. If you can support a young person to reach their full potential – we want to hear from you. Source: https://thecft.org.uk/ No margins for error. Any organisation that works with young people must be held to high standards of practice. This is why OFSTED scrutinise the procedures that ensure the safety of not only the young people but our foster carers aswell. We’re incredibly proud of our Good and Outstanding grades, but the details behind these grading systems can be elusive to those not involved in the day to day of fostering and may not encompass how our service is received, beyond the formalities of practice and procedures. Whilst the OFSTED process is extremely important, it doesn’t happen all that regularly. And we want regular assurances that our stakeholders are being served to the standards they deserve and that we set for ourselves. Continuous Improvement – Carers and children in the driving seat!
This is why we commission a 3rd party to develop a survey aimed evaluating the thoughts, feelings and morale of our staff, foster carers and young people. This involves collating the views of all stakeholders involved with the Trust as well as benchmarking us against the ‘norm’ for hundreds of other organisations – Small, large, for profit and not for profit. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing the results that communicates exactly what it’s like to work, foster and be fostered through The Children’s Family Trust. Our service is driven by the success of our teams, foster carers and looked after children and we thank every single person who responded to the survey. Even the young boy who suggested we could improve with more chicken nuggets and quite frankly, we agree. If you’d like to join our team of foster carers, get in touch today and curate a service that works, for you. Source: https://thecft.org.uk/ Salary: Competitive - Up to £26,000PA plus car allowance of £4,800PA Location: Bromsgrove Contract: Permanent Hours: Full Time - 32 hours per week Closing: 23 November 2023 We are seeking a motivated, enthusiastic, conscientious and creative Support Worker working closely with our team of Supervising Social Workers and Foster Carers to deliver the best outcomes for children and young people in foster care.
Flexibility is required in terms of place of work and hours of work. The position is based from our West Midlands Regional Office, Bromsgrove however there will also be requirement to travel to our Foster Carers and work with the children in their care. You will be required to work 32 hours per week - Monday to Friday, over 4 days and some weekend and evening work. (we are currently running a trial of working 4 days per week but paid for 5!) This trial will be reviewed in March 2024. (The full time non trial working hours are 35 per week). THE CHILDREN’S FAMILY TRUST (THE CFT) Is a well-established Registered Charity and an Independent Fostering Agency providing a wide range of foster placements. We firmly believe our Foster Carers are our most valuable resource deserving the highest levels of support and remuneration we can offer. We work in partnership with Local Authority Social Workers and are committed to keeping our children safe and secure in stable and loving families. JOB PURPOSE The Support Worker post has been created to support foster carers, children and social workers. The post will require working outside normal office hours in order to meet the needs of the service. This will include evening work, bank holidays and weekend work, therefore flexibility is a must! JOB DESCRIPTION In addition to the functions detailed below, employees are required to carry out such other duties as may reasonably be required. The role will include undertaking specific tasks in relation to supporting foster carers and the children placed with them and includes:
THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE We are looking for an individual who is child focused and able to work as part of a wider team to achieve the very best outcomes for our children and have the ability to communicate well with both children and adults. Experience of working with children and young people is essential, experience in the fostering sector would be an advantage but not essential. No formal social work qualifications are necessary, but an understanding of, and empathy for the work required is necessary. You will be able to demonstrate a professional approach and be able to deal with difficult, challenging and stressful situations on occasion. You will need to be approachable whilst also understanding the confidential aspect of the role. A full driving license with business cover and fully comprehensive insurance is essential and you must be confident in transporting children and young people in sometimes stressful and difficult situations. WHAT YOU GET IN RETURN We are a progressive organisation who promote a friendly and supportive working environment, where you will be rewarded for your hard work and results. As well as a competitive annual salary we also offer a comprehensive benefits package, including:
*Please note, this role requires an enhanced DBS check and overseas Police check (if required). Full details and application documents here There’s a 33% increase in care-leaver homelessness* Its time to improve policies to support care leavers. Become Charity, an outstanding organisation supporting children and young people in care and as they leave care has published their response to the Government figures on homelessness between 2022-23. A 33% increase in care experienced young people suffering homelessness or threatening so, is a staggering failure in our ability to safeguard the most vulnerable in our society. As a developed nation, this is a catastrophic figure that demonstrates just how easy it is for young people to fall through the gaping chasm between care and independence. These figures will not fully encompass the issues either, as a single year in the life of a care leaver will never communicate the impacts instability has on young people thrust into independence. Instability is a breeding ground for exploitation and manipulation. Without an adequate safety net, which many care leavers are without, the risk of poor mental health, incarceration and poverty are magnified. The ability for them to seek help is diminished and a vicious cycle is undoubtably put in motion. Traumatised adults setting the precedent for the next generation, yet to be provided an adequate model of care that ensures care is provided until the young person needs it. We believe in better outcomes for young people. This is why our ambitions aren’t to match huge IFAs, its the contrary. The quality of our service is dictated by our close working relationships with foster carers and our foster children. Personalised support and understanding the individual needs of the children from the CEO to Administrators creates an environment tailored to young people and the people who support them. We strive for low turnover of staff so a friendly, familiar face is always on hand and we stick by our founding philosophy – A family is for life. It doesn’t matter if a young person is associated with the trust for 6 weeks, 6 years or 16 years. We will always be available to support the people we’ve worked with. More can be done to ensure these young people have what they need to succeed post care. Katharine Sacks-Jones, CEO of Become, says: “This data is depressing but sadly not surprising. Each year, thousands of 18-year-olds face a care cliff where important support and relationships disappear and they are expected to leave care and become independent overnight, often well before they feel ready. Being pushed into adulthood without the right support in place puts young people at risk. Trying to access safe and suitable housing, manage bills and the cost-of-living crisis, whilst also continuing their education or starting work without a safety net to fall back on is a huge struggle. It’s a scandal that our care system is leaving young people at risk of homelessness, but this can be fixed. We want to see an end to the care cliff so that all young people have a positive start to adulthood and make the move into independence when the time is right for them.” Become is calling on the government to #EndTheCareCliff so that no young person needs to leave care before they’re ready. That means:
*https://becomecharity.org.uk/press-release-33-increase-in-homelessness-among-care-leavers/ If you want to be part of making a difference, and supporting young people into independence – An enquiry is no committment Get in touch today. Source: https://thecft.org.uk/ The notion that any of us with a spare room and a willingness to support young people is enough to become foster carers highlights the two very basic requirements to become carers. But we see from the numbers of those leaving fostering that to be successful, a whole host of facets must come together to support those who dedicate their lives to vulnerable young people. A shiny recruitment campaign, a super speedy assessment process, promises of round the clock support and ultimately a ‘bum on a bed’, simply doesn’t serve anyone and people are left chastised by ‘the system’ and the reality of fostering in 2023. That’s not down to the size of their house, or their financial circumstance or even their will to become carers. It’s something that isn’t communicated knowingly but those who are successful have an edge, something different and its these individuals who we seek out in our recruitment work.
Foster carers that go on to work with children for 10, 15 or even 25 years are different. They have a willingness to rise to a challenge, but maintain a softness and sense of humour. They are head-strong yet adaptable, eager to learn yet confident in their abilities. Getting to this point doesn’t happen without support or careful matching, but to begin with prospective carers must ask themselves – Can you meet the challenges that fostering young, traumatised children bring?
You may not know the answers when the time comes to enquire. Entering the assessment process may make you think twice, or it could bring a realisation that you are stronger and more fitted to the role than you first thought. We, at The Children’s Family Trust pride ourselves on the ability to meet the needs of our carers through personalised support. From Social Workers to Registered Managers to the CEO, we know our carers as individuals, something we cannot achieve if we had bottom-lines, rushed assessment processes or profit margins to meet. We work as a unit. Fostering is about confidence, personality and passion. Everyone COULD become a foster carer, but to be successful requires much much more than simply love and spare bed. AN ENQUIRY IS NO COMMITMENT If you have the time, space, willingness and passion for fostering young people – get in touch Source: https://thecft.org.uk/news/ Fostering has the unique ability to present carers with many changeable and unexpected scenarios that require careful and sensitive management. Emma’s story is particuarly challenging and heartfelt. Managed with absolute professionalism as she navigates disability and sibling foster care together with The CFT. Emma’s story – What made you consider becoming a foster carer? Adoption has been a big part of my family; we have an adopted Aunt, so I was aware of fostering and adoption from a young age. My aunt fosters for Barnardo’s and I wanted to give children a loving family and give something back. – What made you pick The CFT? How long was the process? The assessment process was 8 months long when I applied. I moved from another agency which lost its family feel and became very corporate. We liked that The CFT had a large family feeling and wasn’t all about money. The fact they were a charity really appealed to me and I knew another carer who highly recommended them. I’d heard lots of stories of how they had helped previous foster children and that sealed the deal. We had recently re-done our assessment with our previous agency as it had been taken over so it was an easy process for us. The transfer was really simple and I wasn’t nervous about the process at all, we knew several staff already and met Joe the registered manager. – How did you deal with your first foster placement? Did you have to overcome any difficulties? My first foster placement was a little girl and her baby brother with complex needs, we had her first and he was just coming out of the hospital, he was deaf and blind, he used to stop breathing if he got upset and a lot of the hospital staff didn’t want to work with him as they were scared. I visited him in hospital for 2 weeks before I took him home, the first time I met him, I was warming up the wipes to change his nappy and was super nervous. I got a teddy I had slept with for a couple of days and put it in his cot. After 2 weeks of visiting and doing all the feeding training, I came to visit him and he put his arms out to me. We have been fully supported by CFT, we had a tricky referral and felt like social services were pushing us into something we didn’t want – Joe took charge as he knew we were being pushed. Our foster baby with complex needs was in the hospital for 21 days and we wouldn’t leave him, our social worker kept in touch every day and even brought food in on her days off to the hospital. – If you could give 1 piece of advice to people who are considering foster care, what would it be? Over the years I have learnt to be flexible and go with the flow of the kids, it’s more exciting than nerve-wracking when having a new placement, they are so scared when they come and it’s about making them feel comfortable and safe. Any nerves you do have you have to push through, once the child is there, you don’t have time for nerves. I don’t think the CFT could do anymore to support us, that’s my experience. We have found them to be highly supportive and got that large family feeling back. They are committed to training and I’m impressed that they don’t just do the usual courses, they go out of their way to find courses that are relevant to the children we have. Disability and sibling foster care Foster care is a rollercoaster of emotions, requiring dedication and professionalism that’s so much more than a list of ‘traits’. Emma demonstrates everything that makes foster carers special. To understand and show such compassion in the face of disability and sibling foster care is amazing. And if you’d like to join Emma and our team of outstanding social workers and carers – get in touch here Source: https://thecft.org.uk Salary: Voluntary position - 45p per mile plus expenses Location: Bromsgrove Contract: Zero Hours Hours: Part Time - Up to 40 hours per year, meeting approx. 5-6 meetings per year of 3-4 hours Closing: 1 August 2023 The Children's Family Trust, (CFT), is a well established Registered Charity and an Independent Fostering Agency. We provide a wide and varied range of foster placements and have historically specialised in long term 'Family for Life' placements. We firmly believe our Foster Carers and Staff are our most valuable resource deserving the highest levels of support and remuneration we can offer. We work in partnership with Local Authorities Social Workers committed to keeping our children safe and secure in stable and loving families.
Our Trustees offer strategic leadership to the CFT, achieved through meetings, offering their specialist skills, knowledge and experience, attending events, being advocates for the Charity and supporting larger strategic areas of work, such as business planning. We are now looking to enhance our Board of Trustees and diversify the talent we currently have. We are particularly interested in hearing from former Looked After Children as well as candidates that meet the requirements detailed below. The skills and experience of successful candidates would include some of the following:
We are looking for people that share our values and will be able to commit the time (approximately 8 hours every 2 months), attending meetings during the working day at various venues in the UK, we have Regions in the North East, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, East Midlands and South Central. You would be required to attend an annual away day team building event, be actively involved, reading papers, emails etc and able to commit to at least two years service. In return you have the opportunity to have a positive impact on children and young people's lives at a time when they need support. The opportunity to contribute to the development of the CFT Family and develop skills in a range of areas including Governance, Employment, Equal Opportunities and fundraising. The CFT is an equal opportunities employer and committed to promoting the welfare and safeguarding of children and young people, ensuring they are kept safe. As you will be in an environment which involves child protection and working with Looked After Children, you will be required to have a DBS certificate, which the CFT will undertake. The role is also subject to satisfactory references and background checks. Full details and application documents here In this guest post, Peter Stamford of Moor Mortgages, who we previously interviewed as part of our Transferrable skills series (read the interview here) provides guidance for Foster Carer’s looking to remortgage in the next year. Also included is practical advice & recent changes to government support for those struggling with rising mortgage costs. Starting this week, the government has made some changes to help homeowners who are having a tough time because of rising mortgage rates. Big banks like NatWest, Nationwide, and Barclays (and a lot of the smaller ones too) will now let people change how they pay back their home loans. They can either pay less now for 6 months, or take longer to pay back the loan. The good news is, doing this won’t hurt their credit scores, which are really important for things like getting loans in the future. It has been agreed that people can make these changes without any questions asked. But, it’s important to understand that changing the way you pay your mortgage can mean you might end up paying more over time. Here’s why: when you only pay the interest on your mortgage and not the actual loan, your monthly payments will be less. But when you switch back to paying the loan, you’ll have less time left to pay the rest of the money you owe. This will mean bigger payments each month after the initial 6 months has finished. The other option is to take more time to pay back your loan, but this means you will end up paying more in interest. There’s also a new rule, called the Mortgage Charter, which protects homeowners from losing their homes for a year if they can’t make their payments. However, this rule doesn’t apply to all lenders, and some homeowners won’t be protected. It can be tricky to know what’s best, and is different for each person. But if you have any questions or want any details explained further feel free to get in touch. I’m always happy to talk. In the meantime I made a handy booklet for Foster Carers who are remortgaging in the next year. It lays out what you could be doing at each season leading up to your remortgage date. By Peter Stamford of Moor Mortgages Access Peter’s booklet here in our Resource Centre and if you would like professional mortgage advice from someone who truly understands a Foster Carer’s unique situation, get in touch with Peter here, or call 01434 307744 Source: https://thecft.org.uk/news/the-foster-carer-mortgage-guide/ |
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