Mel Dunn, Together Trust Chief Executive, shares her reflections on her past 18 months at the Together Trust and introduces our charity’s brand new All Together five-year plan.


​Introducing our new five-year strategy
Imagine a world where everyone belongs, achieves their ambitions and thrives in their communities.
At the Together Trust, this is what we are working towards as we continue our charity’s journey with our new five year impact roadmap.

Since 1870, we’ve been helping people to find their way to a brighter future – whether that’s a home to call their own, support to do the activities they love, or inclusive education that equips them with the tools they need for adulthood.

As the needs and ambitions of the people we support have evolved over the years, so have we.
With Mel Dunn joining the charity as our Chief Executive in January 2025 and leading our newly established leadership team, we are using this exciting period to reflect on our priorities and drive meaningful, tangible change.

Click here to read the full article.

£750 Homeworking Allowance per annum pro rata + £1,500 Out of Hours Allowance per annum pro rata (once participating on the rota)

The Role
You’ll work closely with foster carers and social work colleagues to deliver high-quality, trauma-informed support and improve outcomes for children and young people.

Key Responsibilities:

• To supervise and support a diverse range of foster carers and children.
• Ensure children are safe, well cared for and achieve positive outcomes consistent in line with TACT policies.
• Undertaking Form F assessments where needed.
• To facilitate regular support groups and learning opportunities, which will include the delivery of training.
• Developing the service and supporting colleagues. 
• Recording and updating CHARMS and all other appropriate central/social work systems.
• Participating in Out of Hours Service.

Click here for full job details.

The sun was shining bright , amazing music was played, topped off with lots of laughter which filled Wood Farm on Saturday 25 July.

From face painting , 5 a side football games to bubble stations, every corner held a new and exciting adventure for the children. It was a truly magical day packed with wonder, color, and happy hearts that none of us will ever forget. 

Click here for more photographs.

Rocky first joined Break in 2005, beginning his journey as a support worker before progressing through senior roles to eventually lead services. His career has been shaped by strong relationships, belief from others, and a commitment to giving young people the chances he once felt he didn’t have. 

What motivated you to start a career in care? 
At school, I wasn’t really given much of a chance. I played the clown because that’s what people seemed to expect of me. I didn't ever really want to go into a specific trade, but after leaving school, I got involved in football coaching and found that I loved working with young people – building relationships, helping them and being part of their world.

I started thinking about having more of a career and when I saw an advert for Break in the newspaper, something clicked. I’ve always felt like I wanted to help people, doing something where I could be myself and make a difference, so I decided to give it a go. 

What helped you progress from a support worker to a managerial role at Break? 
When I first started as a support worker, I didn’t really know much about residential homes. But I had a great manager who was really supportive and encouraged me to build relationships, try new things out and support the team, so that helped me from the very beginning. My progression wasn’t something I pushed for at first. I never said, “I want to be more senior” or “I want to be a manager.” Instead, people tapped me on the shoulder and said, “You’d be good at that.”

Looking back now, I probably lacked some self-belief because of my experiences at school and not being given much opportunity. But some key people at Break saw something in me and supported me. From support worker to head of services, Break has given me opportunities, training, and wrap‑around support every step of the way. 

Click here to read the full article. 

At Barnardo's, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to thrive in a safe, loving and supportive environment. We are looking for an experienced and passionate Practice Manager to join our Family Placement Service and play a pivotal role in improving outcomes for children, young people, foster carers, adopters and families.

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated social work leader to manage a team of skilled practitioners, drive service excellence, and contribute to the growth and development of one of the UK's leading children's charities.

About the Role
As a Practice Manager, you will provide operational and practice leadership to a team of Social Workers delivering high-quality fostering and adoption services. Working closely with the Operations Manager, you will ensure outstanding outcomes for children and young people while maintaining compliance with all statutory, regulatory and organisational requirements.

You will influence service development, champion safeguarding, oversee quality assurance processes and build strong partnerships with local authorities, commissioners and other key stakeholders.

Click here for full job details.

We are seeking proactive and passionate individuals to join our Fostering Panel. We welcome applicants with a strong understanding of trauma-informed practice and therapeutic care, and a commitment to improving outcomes for children and young people in care.

We are particularly interested in hearing from:

• Foster carers
• Individuals with lived experience of care who have lived within a children’s residential, foster or adoptive home.
• Professionals from therapeutic backgrounds
• Professionals with experience and background in Education or Social Work

The successful applicants must be IT literate, as documentation is shared at online meetings on a monthly basis. The Panel meets via Microsoft Teams on the second Tuesday of each month, but additional meetings may be scheduled as needed. The successful candidate may need to travel to attend an annual panel business day in person and other occasional meetings and training. Candidate must live in North-West areas. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Reading the meeting documents carefully before the meeting and attending the meeting prepared to raise issues and to contribute to the panel discussion.
• Participating in the making of recommendations on each case, drawing on both personal and professional knowledge and experience.
• To attend at least 75 per cent of meetings of the panel.
• To be prepared to attend additional panels, if possible, if requested.
• To participate, with other panel members, in advising on policy and procedural matters as required.
• To address diversity issues and promote anti-discriminatory practice.
• To safeguard the confidentiality of all panel papers and panel discussions.
• To participate in panel induction and in panel training, which will be at least one day per year.
• To participate constructively in the annual review of their panel membership if this is an agency requirement.

Click here for full details.

Bridget Phillipson succeeded as education secretary by Labour's deputy leader, who will assume responsibility for the government's children's social care reform agenda.

Lucy Powell has taken responsibility for children's social care after being appointed education secretary in Andy Burnham's new government.

The Labour deputy leader succeeds Bridget Phillipson, who remains in the cabinet as minister for women and equalities, a brief she already held.

Following her appointment, Powell posted on X: "Absolutely thrilled the be appointed education secretary. For me there’s no more important job for any government than making sure young people have the best education, the best opportunities and the best future they can. Lots to do and I look forward to getting started."

Her appointment means she will be charged with implementing the government's children's social care reform agenda, which includes:

• Reorganising children's services to improve support for families, sharpen the quality of child protection practice and involve family networks more in decision making.
• Overhauling the fostering system in order to create 10,000 more places by 2029.
• Vesting responsibility for care placements in regional care co-operatives, in order to improve the supply and quality of care for looked-after children.
• Enhancing support for care leavers, and supporting care experienced people to build lasting and loving relationships.

Click here to read the full article.

​Why foster with us
For children, not for profit.

For over 20 years, we’ve been recruiting foster carers to provide stable homes to young people who may not be able to live with their birth families.

We pride ourselves on the support we give to our carers and, as a charity, we don’t make a profit. The money we make is invested back into the fostering service, to provide the best possible support for our foster carers and, most importantly, the young people in their care.

Read the Together Trust’s Foster Statement of Purpose

• Tailored 24/7 support
• Access to a duty social worker 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year
• Support when attending meetings with professionals
• Supervision from a qualified social worker
• Fostering support workers for individual work with children and young people
• Monthly support groups.

Click here for the full article.

A recent Times article highlighted the shocking reality that residential placements for children are costing local authorities tens of thousands of pounds per week. This should be a wake-up call for everyone involved in children’s social care. The costs are staggering – but the real issue goes deeper than money.  

Too many children are living in residential care because there simply aren’t enough foster families available to meet their needs. If we want to reduce the opportunity for profiteering in the care system, we need to increase the number of loving, well-supported foster homes children can move into. 

Of course, residential care has an important role to play in the sector. For some children, it is absolutely the right setting and can provide specialist support that cannot be delivered elsewhere. But for many children, a loving family home could offer the stability, relationships and sense of belonging they need to thrive. The challenge is that there simply aren’t enough foster carers willing and able to support them. 

That’s why TACT has launched Step Forward - a specialist fostering programme designed to help children move from residential care into stable family environments.

Click here to read the full article.
​

With it being South Asian Heritage Month, it feels important to think about culture, identity and belonging, especially for children and young people in care.

Growing up can be difficult enough on its own. For children who come into care, those difficulties can often be made more complicated by separation, uncertainty and change. Alongside the practical need for safety, stability and support, there is also a deeper question many children carry with them beneath the surface: Who am I?

For some young people, questions around identity can begin in small, everyday ways: Why is my hair different from my friends? Why does my family eat different food? Why do we speak another language at home? Why do certain traditions matter? For others, the questions may become bigger over time. Where do I come from? What parts of my story still belong to me? How do I hold on to who I am while living somewhere new?

Many children are able to explore these questions through family, community and the people around them. They may have direct access to stories, traditions, faith, language, food, music, celebrations and a wider sense of cultural belonging. These things can help a young person feel rooted. They can offer pride, comfort and connection.

But this is not always straightforward for children in care.

Click here to read the full article.