Give a local child a brighter future by fostering with your council
Get ready to be part of something truly rewarding! Telford Fostering invites you to celebrate Foster Care Fortnight between 15-26 May and to join our amazing foster care community. Let’s come together to celebrate the incredible contribution of our borough foster carers and inspire more people to consider fostering a local child.
Councillor Shirley Reynolds (Lab), Cabinet Member for Early Years, Children and Young People says: “We are incredibly thankful for everything our foster carers do to provide local children with secure, loving homes where they can thrive and reach their full potential.
“We want to celebrate the long-lasting positive impact foster carers make on our community.
“During the next two weeks, Telford Fostering has lined up some fantastic events and activities for our foster carers to enjoy, including pamper days, guest speaker training events, walking trails, mental wellness sessions and fun activities for their children and young people.
“Foster carers have the power to transform the lives of the borough’s children in care. There’s truly nothing more rewarding than giving a local child a happy childhood and a brighter future within their local community.
“Our Telford Fostering team welcomes people from all walks of life to foster, regardless of age, gender, relationship, status or sexual orientation. Even if you can only foster for a few days a month, we encourage you to get in touch with our team, as part-time fostering opportunities are also available in addition to full-time ones.
“As a Telford and Wrekin foster carer, you’ll become part of a supportive and valued family and you will receive a range of benefits including competitive fees and allowances, training and development opportunities, in-house therapeutic support, permanent support services and many others.
“This Foster Care Fortnight is the perfect opportunity for you to learn more about fostering with Telford Fostering. Drop by an information session to have a friendly chat with our team, join a virtual event or Facebook live sessions, walk the Wrekin with our foster carers and much more. Visit Telford Fostering website to pick an event or session that works best for you.”
At present, there is a need for many more fostering households in Telford and Wrekin, to make sure every child that can’t live with their own family gets the care they need and are well supported within their community.
Foster carers with the council share their experiences with Telford Fostering.
•Haylee: “Since becoming a foster carer, the level of support from the council has been amazing – for any questions or problems, there’s always someone to ask. If you’ve got the time, patience, love, and care to give a child who needs it – contact the council’s foster team.”
•Stef: “I didn’t realise until I contacted Telford Fostering that part-time fostering was possible and to my surprise, really necessary to give full-time carers a break. It’s a privilege to help make children’s lives happier.”
•Matthew and Catherine: “The support we have received from Telford Fostering has been absolutely amazing, we’ve had a quite few challenges during our fostering journey over the last two years but the team was there to give us all the support we needed, they’ve been there for us also out-of-hours so not just Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm. The training received was second to none, we’ve learned so much and there is so much training on offer that we can keep on improving our skills.
“The result of all these is an amazing youngster who goes from strength to strength.
“Seeing the growth in the children you foster is just amazing, it’s incredibly fulfilling and you get just so filled with pride!”
•Charli and Chris: “We first looked into fostering to find out if we could help a child known to us. Then, the more we heard about fostering for Telford & Wrekin, we decided to apply to foster and help any child that needed a home. To begin with, we thought that we would foster younger children. When we applied, ours were all under eight years old. Then, we heard about a boy who needed a foster family, who happened to be a teenager. His personality seemed like the perfect fit for our family. Four years on, he is still with us and very much part of our family.”
“I would say to anyone who is thinking about fostering to talk to the team at Telford Fostering. They are a fantastic team. They offer excellent training, a wide range of support including support groups and regular communication. We have felt connected to the team from the beginning. I would recommend Telford Fostering to all potential foster carers, they are a wonderful team and nothing is too much trouble.”
•Paula and Karl: “If you are thinking about fostering, definitely come to Telford Fostering, it’s one of the best things you’ll ever do. We’ve moved to Telford Fostering over a year ago, as we were unhappy with our previous fostering service.
“It’s a very friendly team, from management to all the foster carers, their support is first class and their financial package is highly competitive.”
•Donna and Felix: “We became foster carers in July last year, we have a 12 year old living with us at the moment. The support from Telford Fostering team has been marvellous. Felix and myself don’t have any children of our own and we decided fostering is the route to go. The training, in particular the Skills to Foster course that Telford Fostering is delivering, is just brilliant, because you get to be very prepared for your role as foster carer.”
Foster Care Fortnight™ is The Fostering Network's annual campaign to raise the profile of fostering and show how foster care transforms lives. Foster Care Fortnight 2023 takes place from 15-28 May.
To find out more about the benefits of becoming a foster carer with Telford Fostering and about the Foster Care Fortnight events and activities, visit www.telfordfostering.co.uk
