​We recently held our annual Celebration of Achievements in our Yorkshire and East Midlands region and once again it was an incredible night hearing some inspiring stories from our children and young people.

We were accompanied by animal encounters, archery, bootcamp, table tennis and some early Christmas crafts where carers told us what they love about Team Fostering.

We were also super proud of two of our young people who accompanied our CEO Kathryn, Education and Support Manager Steve and board member Chris to help present the awards.  

Click here to read some of the stories from our finalists.

We’re delighted to be able to celebrate having two Team Fostering members of staff as finalists in the Social Worker of the Year awards.

Team manager Sue and Supervising Social Worker Steve are both up for the Lifetime Achievement Award and will find out if they’ve won at a ceremony on 17th October.

Click here to read about Sue and Steve and their commitment  to supporting children, young people, and foster carers.

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.

Click here to read the full article.

​Due to a reorganisation of Team Fostering’s panels, we are seeking to appoint the following role: Independent Panel Chair.

Panels are held monthly, but due to our successful recruitment campaigns, additional panels may be scheduled as required. Panels are facilitated via Teams but occasionally some face-to-face panels may be required. Candidates applying for the position should possess relevant knowledge regarding the needs of children.

Panel Fee: £500 per session (this fee includes attending panel training, undertaking annual appraisals of panel members, annual reporting and 2 meetings per year with the Agency Decision Maker, Quality Assurance Director and Responsible Individual)

We are looking to appoint a competent and accomplished professional who has considerable expertise in chairing complex meetings and the skills to effectively manage and direct the fostering panel.

The post holder will be able to demonstrate expertise and have up to date knowledge of the legislative framework governing fostering. Additionally, the appointed person must possess a thorough understanding of childcare legislation, including relevant and up-to-date national qualitative research. 

Click here for full job details 

Hello. For those of you who may not know me yet, I’m Martin Hanson, the Registered Manager for Team Fostering North East. This May half term, I had the pleasure of joining our annual fostering holiday for the first time, and I wanted to share a few thoughts about what a special experience it was.

I must also mention my two boys, Will and Zach, aged 6, who had a brilliant week, prior to which they had been counting the days down like it was Christmas. They weren’t the only ones. When I arrived one of our Foster Carers told me their little boys had been like a bottle of fizzy pop all week, ready to burst with excitement for their first time at Flamingo Land.

For me, it was a great opportunity to spend time with some of our amazing Foster Carers, children and staff in a different setting – one that felt relaxed, fun, and full of connection. Hopefully, everyone who came along made some wonderful memories and had a great week. And for anyone who wasn’t able to join us this year, I hope this gives you a sense of what makes it such a unique and special part of our fostering calendar.

Click here to read the full artlicle.

At Team Fostering we are always looking for ways we can enhance and improve our offer to children and foster carers.  One of our newest projects is Team Adventure, which uses adventure-based activities to engage young people and enable them to thrive in school and at home. 

Through Team Adventure, we can offer a variety of different activities and tailor the support to the needs and interests of the young person.  We are also able to deliver the National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS), which enables young people to develop skill and competence, which is accredited through this nationally recognised scheme.  One of our young people has recently completed the Level 2 NICAS bouldering award. This is such an excellent achievement and we are so proud of for him.

Click here to read the full article.

This week we celebrated the achievements of our wonderful children at our North East Celebration of Achievements event.

Held in the beautiful and aptly named ‘Grand Hall’ at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle, this event is all about championing what our children have achieved from the smallest moments to the big milestones.

Fun and games
We were joined by our foster carers and staff, with an inspirational speech from our Board Member and former Olympic swimmer Chris Cook. Plus the children were able to enjoy colouring, pot painting, face painting, balloon modelling and circus skills before exploring the museum afterwards.

All the children nominated received a medal and here are just a few of the reasons their foster carers thought were worth celebrating.   

Click here to read the full article.

As the Quality Assurance Director, you will lead and manage the quality assurance, safeguarding and compliance functions within Team Fostering. You will be responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive quality assurance strategy that aligns with the agency’s objectives. You will also be accountable for driving the company’s quality initiatives, supporting policy development, ensuring compliance with UK legislation and National Minimum Standards, and overseeing training and safeguarding activities. Additionally you will act as the Designated Complaints Officer and the second Agency Decision Maker (ADM).

Click here for full job details

We’re delighted to announce the result of our recent Ofsted inspection in Yorkshire and the East Midlands where we were awarded a rating of Good.

To celebrate we took our carers and staff to Aston Hall for afternoon tea to thank them for all their hard work. We shared inspirational stories of what brought us all to the world of fostering in the first place and heard about the journey some of our children have been on.

Team Fostering CEO Kathryn Hayes said: “This is an excellent achievement, reflecting the tremendous dedication, hard work, and commitment of every individual within the Yorkshire and East Midlands team and of our entire agency. It truly showcases the phenomenal support we provide to our fostering families and children, as well as the life-changing outcomes we achieve together.

Click here to read what Ofsted had to say

Sue McNulty is one of our Team Managers in the Yorkshire and East Midlands region. For Social Work Week we sat down for a chat about how she found herself working in social care, her own fostering experience and what makes the social work team at Team Fostering so special.

So Sue, how did you get into social work?
I started off doing community and youth work before going on to gain a social work qualification.

My first experience was working in supported accommodation. I was part of a project which supported mums with learning difficulties and their children. That’s what I did for quite a few years then I moved into child protection.

Around that time I also became a foster carer and for 20 years I had the parallel of working in child protection, social work and the front end working across adoption and fostering.

That’s what I’ve done until coming to Team Fostering. I wanted to use my fostering experience because that’s been really important to me. I’m also now a shared lives carer.

Click here to read more