On Thursday, April 17th, children’s charity St Christopher’s will release its annual Spring newsletter, Opening Doors. This edition highlights how St Christopher’s turns their houses into homes for children and young people in care.

The charity, which has a rich history of supporting children and young people since 1870, provides quality children’s homes, supported housing, fostering and other specialist services and promotes lifelong learning and thriving for all those in their care.

St Christopher’s unique approach ensures that young people under their care can be safe, loved, and happy, and achieve their goals during and after their time with them. To achieve this, the charity learns and develops alongside young people, using emotional intelligence to create relationships and offering creative, practical activities that encourage young people to learn and grow.

St Christopher’s supports young people in their journey into adulthood, from life skills training to support in the world of work to creating a link to the home once they have left.

One story featured in Opening Doors is last summer’s camping trip, where young people stepped out of their comfort zones to try something new. For Leon, who had never camped before, it was more than just a trip. It was an unforgettable experience that opened his eyes to new possibilities:

“This was my best day since I came to the UK. I’ve seen this in movies but not in real life.”

Experiences like these help young people build confidence, friendships, and lasting memories. Please consider donating £35 today to help St Christopher’s give more children and young people like Leon the chance to thrive.

You can read Opening Doors, donate and find out more here.

Source:
https://www.stchris.org.uk

Are you a dynamic, passionate leader ready to build something truly meaningful from the ground up? Do you bring oodles of enthusiasm, energy and vision to everything you do? If so, we’d love to meet you!

About Us
We are a young Community Interest Company, created by an experienced Foster Parent with a big heart and an even bigger mission: to deliver exceptional, child-centred support services that genuinely change lives. This is a rare opportunity to join in the very early stages of our journey and play a pivotal role in shaping our culture, our service, and our impact.

The Role
As our Registered Manager, you will be the driving force behind our operational success. You’ll lead with warmth, expertise, creativity, and compliance—ensuring our service not only meets regulatory standards but exceeds expectations for the children, young people, and families we support.

Key Responsibilities

• Statutory Compliance: Act as the Registered Manager, ensuring adherence to Fostering Regulations (e.g., England 2011) and National Minimum Standards, managing Ofsted inspections and reporting (like Regulation 35).
• Strategic Leadership: Drive the agency's vision, achieve business targets, and develop innovative strategies for growth and service improvement.
• Team & Service Management: Lead, manage, and motivate a multidisciplinary team, ensuring effective supervision and development.
• Fostering Oversight: Oversee recruitment, assessment, training, and ongoing support/supervision of foster parents.
• Safeguarding & Child Welfare: Lead on all safeguarding matters, ensuring the welfare of children is paramount, and monitoring care plans and outcomes.
• Stakeholder Relations: Build strong partnerships with Local Authorities, schools, and other agencies, attending meetings and negotiating contracts.
• Quality Assurance: Implement continuous improvement, monitor service quality, conduct audits, and manage complaints/incidents. 

Click here for full job details

For Joanne and McPhil from Northern Ireland, fostering with Barnardo’s has turned their lives upside down in the best possible way, bringing joy, challenges and blessings, not just for them, but for their four birth children too.

Two years into their fostering journey with us, the family has already made a lasting difference to the children they’ve cared for. They’re sharing their story in the hope it encourages you to consider opening your home to children who need care.

How their fostering journey started
For Joanne and McPhil, fostering wasn’t a quick or impulsive decision. It was something they thought about for years, waiting until the timing felt right for their family.

“We considered fostering when our children were younger, but it just wasn’t the right moment,” Joanne says. “Now that they’re older, we have the space and love to offer a young person.”

McPhil says their motivation was simple. “We just wanted to meet a child’s needs,” he says. “There’s a real shortage of foster carers, and we felt we could help.”

With four older birth children, fostering quickly became a whole-family conversation. “We talked it through together,” Joanne explains. “One of our daughters said she’d heard about a family of four going into care and told me, ‘Mum, imagine if that was us. I just couldn’t imagine it.’”

Click here to read the full article.

Jan has been a TACT Supervising Social Worker since 2005. She talks about some of her proudest moments as a Social Worker.

I began my social care career working in a residential unit for adults with cerebral palsy. I did this for 14 years and then did my social work training. After I qualified, I worked in a childcare team for 5 years, then 5 years in a local authority fostering team. I then joined TACT in 2005. My favourite thing about TACT is the longevity of the foster placements that we have, and being able to provide forever families for young people.

I love it when children and young people progress, when they achieve things – be it academically or in a sport they never thought they could do. Sometimes it’s what can be overlooked which brings job satisfaction, a young child’s delight when maybe for the first time they go to school in a nice clean uniform and their hair is washed and tidy. Or a child’s excitement because in a school concert or on sports day there is a grown up in the audience or in the crowd cheering them on. 

Click here to read the full article.

Join our passionate and friendly fostering charity as an experienced social worker!  We are recruiting for an enthusiastic, knowledgeable Supervising Social Worker (SSW) to join our charity team, working primarily from home, but with regular opportunities to meet with colleagues both regionally and agency wide.

There will be involvement in recruiting, assessing, supervising and supporting Foster Carers to support us in maintaining our quality fostering service for looked after children. The role involves recruitment of Foster Carers, travel to the homes of our Foster Carers as required (which will at times involve travelling longer distances), leading occasional projects, running and delivering training and support groups, and taking part in an ‘out of hours’ duty system (approximately 6 times a year).

To allow our social workers to provide a thorough, personal and meaningful service to our fostering families, workload is always allocated to ensure it is manageable. We are an ethically driven charity, putting the needs of our children and carers first and are looking to appoint a Supervising Social Worker who is as passionate about this as we are.

Click here for full job details.

Fair Ways Bake Off 2026 brought together young people from across our services to showcase their creativity, confidence and baking skills. With 13 fantastic entries and support from community partners, this year’s event was a true celebration of achievement and teamwork. 

This year’s Fair Ways Bake Off was another fantastic celebration of creativity, effort and achievement, bringing together young people from across our services for a truly special event. 

From delicious cheesecakes to beautifully decorated sponge cakes, each bake reflected the time, care and creativity that had gone into it, making it a real challenge for our judges to choose the winners. 

Click here to read the full article, including photographs.

We are looking for a creative and strategic Head of Media on a permanent contract to lead, plan and deliver media relation strategies and activities to highlight the work of Action for Children and issues related to vulnerable children, young people and families.

How you'll help to create brighter futures

• Lead development and delivery of Action for Children’s media relations.
• Lead, manage and motivate the Media Relations Team and to matrix manage devolved press officers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Plan, manage and deliver a range of proactive and reactive news, and corporate media activities nationally and regionally.
• Support the development and implementation of a cultivation plan to build relationships with journalists, editors, and influencers.
• Lead and co-ordinate innovative and creative approaches to highlight the impact of the work of Action for Children.
• Oversee development and implementation of media events.
• Work collaboratively with Influencing and Public Affairs to develop media strategies.

Click here for full details

Barnardo's is seeking a committed and skilled Supervising Social Worker to join our Midlands Fostering Families service. This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a supportive and passionate team dedicated to providing high‑quality support to foster carers and achieving the best outcomes for children.

As a Supervising Social Worker, you will support, supervise, and develop a caseload of foster carers, ensuring safe, child‑centred, and high‑quality fostering practice.

Your caseload will be predominantly based in the East Midlands, and you will work closely with foster families, children, colleagues, and partner agencies.

This is a hybrid role and you will spend regular time in the Halesowen office to attend team meetings, support service delivery, and engage in collaborative practice.

Your role will include the following: 

• Provide supervision, support, and guidance to foster carers in line with regulatory and Barnardo's standards.
• Undertake visits, assessments, and reviews to ensure safe, effective, and child‑led foster homes.
• Work directly with children and young people to understand their lived experiences and support positive outcomes.
• Contribute to the recruitment, training, and development of foster carers.
• Work in partnership with local authorities, health, education, and other agencies.
• Ensure robust safeguarding practice and respond effectively to any concerns.
• Maintain accurate and timely records and contribute to audits, quality assurance, and service planning.

Click here for more details.

We are delighted to welcome Tassie Ghilani and Michael Lister to our Board of Trustees. Both bring a wealth of professional expertise alongside powerful lived experience, strengthening our commitment to ensuring the voices and experiences of children and young people remain at the heart of everything we do.

Searching “how to foster” today could help a child find a home tomorrow.

Imagine a 10-year-old named Sam. Sam has lived in three different homes in the past year. He misses his friends, struggles with school, and doesn’t feel safe. What Sam needs isn’t just a place to stay - he needs someone to care, guide, and support him through life.

Now imagine that you could be the person to make that difference. By searching “how to foster” today, you could change the life of a child like Sam - providing stability, love, and hope for the future.

In 2025, the UK had 42,190 foster households looking after over 54,800 children in England - but nearly 30,000 children were still living in residential care homes.

That means thousands of children are still waiting for families who can welcome them into a safe home. 

The need is urgent, and fostering is not just for families with extra space - it’s for anyone willing to offer care, patience, and a home.

Click here to read the full article.