Support and Training for Carers

Worcestershire County Council hope to provide their foster carers with top quality, plentiful support in a variety of different ways.

We believe this is important to ensure the best care to children, to support carers in the very demanding (and rewarding) task they undertake in looking after someone else’s child.

With all the time spent on training and preparation for your role as a foster carer we aim to ensure that it is put to good use for many years. Testimony to our success in this area is that many of our carers have worked for us for over ten years.

Worcestershire County Council provides their foster carers with outstanding support – including:

•          Regular placements.
•          Fees & allowances paid.
•          'Retainer' payments when vacant.
•          24/7 emergency support.
•          Respite as required.
•          Excellent training, including NVQ level 3.
•          Regular one-to-one's with fostering social workers.
•          Specialist education and health support.
•          Concessionary leisure passes.

In addition to the support you will receive from your fostering social worker, a child in placement will also have their own social worker to assist you in caring for that child.

Integrated Service for Looked After Children (ISL)

The Integrated Service for Looked After Children (ISL) is a multi-agency service that aims to improve the educational experience, social care, health & emotional well being, and community & leisure opportunities of every child and young person who is accommodated by Worcestershire County Council's Looked After Service. It also provides a service for children who have been adopted.

ISL is a team consisting of education, social care and health professionals. They aim to work together with others involved with the child; to support carers to provide stable secure placements that promote positive relationships between the carer and children and help to meet their needs.

They aim to support carers and children in the following ways:

• Supporting children in school by working with the teachers and the children to improve achievements and attendance
• Supporting foster carers and adoptive parents by providing a responsive consultation service, telephone and home visiting support, therapeutic interventions, training, information and advice to promote access to community and leisure activities

Foster carer colleagues

Despite the extensive level of professional support we also acknowledge the importance of contact with colleagues doing the same job. This provides the potential for developing friendships, and mutual support by sharing experiences and methods of managing different situations. Foster carers meetings also ensure that carers are kept in touch with developments in Worcestershire and nationally in relation to foster care.

We therefore provide:

• Foster carers group meetings in your local area
• Linking up with an experienced carer when you start fostering

Other supports

• Access to your own fostering social worker or another fostering social worker, and the children and families social worker during normal office hours
• Core training and development training opportunities, including a biannual overnight training convention
• Practical support at times of crisis, or additional pressures, such as cleaning, ironing or a worker taking a foster child out
• BTEC online and NVQ3 training courses
• Access to a social worker outside of normal office hours
• Membership of ‘Fostering Network’ (a national organisation promoting fostering). This is paid for by Worcestershire and entitles you to a quarterly magazine, free information and legal advice
• “togethernews” – Worcestershire’s quarterly fostering newsletter keeping carers informed of training opportunities, what’s going on in the fostering service and wider issues
• Social events
• Quarterly foster carer forum – an opportunity for all carers to meet with a senior manager from the fostering service

Training & Development

Training and development of our foster carers is an important priority for us, as we believe this is important to ensure the best care for the children, and for the carers, in the demanding task of looking after someone else's child.

Applicants will be required to complete some of the training during the assessment process (before approval) and a varied programme of training is also available for approved foster carers to ensure their ongoing personal development.