Fostering at Christmas can be complicated for both foster carers and the children they provide care for. Christmas may not be celebrated or acknowledged by members of the household, or there may be more deep-routed issues such as negative past experiences from the perspective of a young person. Whatever the reason, the holiday season can work for all members of the fostering household with a little forward planning and flexibility.

Differences in faith When Fostering At Christmas
One of the most important points to consider when we reach the holiday period is the differences in faith. If you are a foster carer who doesn’t celebrate or acknowledge Christmas, then providing a festive experience for a child who values Christmas may feel a little alien to you. Likewise, you may need to provide care to a child whose religion or upbringing is incongruous to Christian festivals such as Christmas.

In these situations, a flexible approach is the key to ensuring that all faiths are represented and celebrated. A great way to achieve this is for both foster carer and child to talk about and introduce elements of their own religions into the festive season. Not only will this achieve a balance between the differing faiths, it will also function as a useful learning and bonding exercise. Social Workers will be able to support with opening these dialogues, and will be able to provide advice.

Click here for top five tips for any fostering households who will be looking to celebrate Christmas with the children in their caretactfostering.org.uk/fostering-at-christmas/

The East Midlands service has been rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and the successful candidate will need to continue to prioritise trauma informed and therapeutic methodologies and actively support/encourage diversity and inclusion within all aspects of the role alongside contributing to the provision of services for to our families across the East Midlands region.

This role will report directly to the Operational Director of Children’s Services and is non-case holding role, however, there may be the need to occasionally cover casework due to staff sickness or leave.

In this role you will be responsible for the smooth running of a staff team of Deputy Area Managers, Social Workers, Family Finders, Recruitment Managers & Officers, Consultants, Panel Members, Administration Team and Children’s and Young People’s Resource Workers. 

The main role requirements for the Registered Area Manager role includes:

• A Level 5 Management Qualification (or a willingness to enrol on such a course within 6 months of appointment and to complete within 3 years)
• A minimum of 3 – 5 years post qualifying experience in fostering or in other childcare settings
• A proven track record in working with and on behalf of children, respecting and maintaining their individuality and promoting their positive development
• Experience of managing a diverse and experienced team, ideally remotely
• Experience of group work and/or delivery of training
• Up to date knowledge of relevant legislation including the Fostering National Minimum Standards and Fostering regulations
• Ability to prioritise, plan and self-organise efficiently
• Excellent communication skills and ability to use IT effectively, including participating in virtual meetings and webinars.
• Ensuring regulatory compliance including service monitoring
• Responsible for the safeguarding of children and young people
• Taking part in the out-of-hours rota.
• Delivery of the Service Operational Plan which will include the management of budget and contracts
• Being a Panel Advisor

Click here for full job details 

Location: Homebased with travel required around East Midlands regions (Derbyshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire & Peterborough)

This role will report directly to the Operational Director of Children’s Services and is non-case holding role, however, there may be the need to occasionally cover casework due to staff sickness or leave.

In this role you will be responsible for the smooth running of a staff team of Deputy Area Managers, Social Workers, Family Finders, Recruitment Managers & Officers, Consultants, Panel Members, Administration Team and Children’s and Young People’s Resource Workers. 

The main role requirements for the Fostering Registered Area Manager role includes:

• A Level 5 Management Qualification (or a willingness to enrol on such a course within 6 months of appointment and to complete within 3 years)
• A minimum of 3 – 5 years post qualifying experience in fostering or in other childcare settings
• A proven track record in working with and on behalf of children, respecting and maintaining their individuality and promoting their positive development
• Experience of managing a diverse and experienced team, ideally remotely
• Experience of group work and/or delivery of training
• Up to date knowledge of relevant legislation including the Fostering National Minimum Standards and Fostering regulations
• Ability to prioritise, plan and self-organise efficiently
• Excellent communication skills and ability to use IT effectively, including participating in virtual meetings and webinars.
• Ensuring regulatory compliance including service monitoring
• Responsible for the safeguarding of children and young people
• Taking part in the out-of-hours rota.
• Delivery of the Service Operational Plan which will include the management of budget and contracts
• Being a Panel Advisor

​Click here for full job details

The highly trauma informed team in TACT Southwest seek an enthusiastic part time, fostering experienced SSSW for a fixed term of 6 months, to work closely with the existing team, addressing the growing needs of our children and young people and their carers throughout the region.  This is an opportunity for an SSSW to experience new methods and practices in a dedicated and supportive team, having direct impact on outcomes for children.

If you want to be valued as a professional, be appreciated at work and contribute to better outcomes for the children and young people connected with TACT, apply now.  

Overall Duties of the Senior Supervising Social Worker will include:

• Post qualifying experience in family placement work or post qualifying experience in other childcare settings.
• A proven track record in working with and on behalf of children, respecting and maintaining their individuality and promoting their positive development.
• Up to date knowledge of relevant legislation including the Fostering National Minimum Standards and Fostering regulations.
• Experience of working with/supporting looked after children and their foster carers.
• Thorough and consistent administrative and report writing skills plus excellent communication and relationship building skills.
• The skills to prioritise and work autonomously, against potentially conflicting deadlines with regard to regulatory requirements.
• The ability to support our foster carers and their families to achieve the best outcomes for the children in their care.
• You will need to have a Social Work qualification and be registered with Social Work England.
• An Enhanced DBS clearance is also required and will be processed by TACT on your behalf.

Click here for full job details 

The Fostering Recruitment Officer/Family Support Worker role focuses on working with prospective and approved foster carers, children and families.   You will be available to plan and participate with recruitment events across the West Midlands, contribute to face to face and online activities and opportunities to attract those interested in fostering.    You must able to travel across the West Midlands as key support to children and their carers and flexibility is required within the role to manage and support at short notice to meet the needs of the children/service.   Flexibility will also be expected as there will be some occasional weekend and late evening working to support the needs of carers and children, in addition to recruitment activities. 

Please see the Job Information Pack, Job Description and TACT website at tactcare.org.uk for more detailed information.

An Enhanced DBS clearance is required for this role and will be processed by TACT on your behalf.

Click here for full job details

Our TACT North West team took 13 of our foster care households out for a day of partying and fun – courtesy of a donation provided by John Lewis.

The day consisted of face painting, dancing, a raffle, a visit from Stitch (of Lilo & Stitch fame), a photo booth, buffet, TACT sweets and cupcakes – and some very special performances from two of our talented TACT young people!

Wellbeing events for our fostering families are so important as they provide a platform for our young people to make new friends or to catch up on existing friendships. They also provide a space for our foster carers to connect with other carers and our staff. Wellbeing and mental health for all is the overriding factor, and the memories and experiences generated at events such as these are priceless.

Click here to read the full article

We require a Social Worker to support foster carers in Somerset and Devon. The successful applicants will be joining a forward-thinking team with focus on the child being central to decision making. The roles are homebased with a requirement for regular travel to meet carers face to face locally, attend team meetings in Bristol monthly, and for other wellbeing and team events as necessary.

If you want to be valued as a professional, be appreciated at work and contribute to better outcomes for the children and young people connected with TACT, apply now.  

Main role requirements:

• Post qualifying experience in family placement work or post qualifying experience in other childcare settings.
• A proven track record in working with and on behalf of children, respecting and maintaining their individuality and promoting their positive development.
• Up to date knowledge of relevant legislation including the Fostering National Minimum Standards and Fostering regulations.
• Experience of working with/supporting looked after children and their foster carers.
• Thorough and consistent administrative and report writing skills plus excellent communication and relationship building skills.
• The skills to prioritise and work autonomously, against potentially conflicting deadlines with regard to regulatory requirements.
• The ability to support our fostertactfostering.org.uk/job/senior-supervising-social-worker/ carers and their families to achieve the best outcomes for the children in their care.

Click here for full job details 

Trina was helping out at a school, when one of the teachers recommended fostering to her. She decided to look into it. She’s now been a TACT foster carer for 17 years.

Many years ago I was helping out in the local school, and one of the teachers was a TACT foster carer and she kept saying to me ‘you could do this – the way you are with children’. So it was actually one of the school teachers that got me into this.

So I gave TACT a call, hoping that they were going to take me seriously – and I’m still here 17 years later.

You can foster as a family
When I did look into [fostering] further, we only had my son Ben at home at the time – the other three had left. Ben was 9 when I first started to look into it, and by the time TACT had come out and done all their investigations, and I’d done the Skills to Foster course – we actually became foster carers when our own son was 10.

Ben’s always grown up around other foster children because his best friends in school were twins and they were both fostered. So he understood the fostering side of looking after children. He actually just thrived with the six year old little boy. They both had the same interests – it just worked really well.  I don’t think Ben ever had his face put out of joint because this isn’t my adventure, this is our family adventure.

Click here to read more from Trina

Aileen learned a lot from the young people in her care; from arts and crafts right through to adjusting expectations to be in line with the needs of her young people.

My favourite thing about being a foster carer is watching young people develop from sometimes a frightened young person, or a young person who is unsure of where they are going, into blossoming young adults who go to university or college or get an apprenticeship.

My last young man who got himself into little bit of bother: we’ve now got him in the Princes’ Trust learning a trade. It’s about being positive, not looking at everything that’s negative and helping them to develop confidence in their own abilities, so they can move on and realise that they can do things.

The support from TACT has been superb. I have the finest Supervising Social Worker that any person could ever have. She is absolutely brilliant.

Click here to read the full article.

TACT South West are looking for a children’s resource worker to collaborate with them to support foster children and carers within Bude and Torquay. The ideal Children’s Resource Worker will already have some experience in engagement and participation with vulnerable young people, care experienced children or have similar experience in child-facing settings. Experience of working with young people who are neurodiverse would be beneficial.  Activities would include completing one-one work with young people with life skills, healthy relationships, taking to activities, completing emotional literacy work. High level of flexibility required to cover weekends, evenings and bank holidays. Occasionally may be required to support with overnight residentials and night support within the foster home.

Car driver and owning a car is desirable. There will be opportunities for training and development for this role, as new workers join us at our organisation wide journey to become a fully trauma-informed organisation. The successful candidate will undertake essential  duties that will impact positively on the long-term outcomes for the young people and children in our care. This role is an essential part of the wider team, working in close partnership with parents, carers, young people, local authorities and their social workers. 

Click here for full job details