Could you be a Carer within The Children's Family Trust?

We are successful and growing.  This means that we are actively encouraging new Carers to join the Trust both in the North-East and in the Midlands.  Application details are given below, or contact either of our offices at the addresses given in our ‘home page’.

If you can provide a secure and loving family environment that can help a child get a good start in life and have an interest in fostering, then please contact us on 01905 798229, or at carers@thecft.org.uk or fill in and send us the form at the end of this page.

Whatever the history of the child, we understand that what he or she needs is someone who can help them grow as an individual and establish those key emotional and social skills and relationships that will enable them to become resilient and successful members of the community later in life.

The Trust has been providing foster care since 1946 and pioneered a unique method of caring that has provided "families for life" for many children across the country.  In 2003 the Trust formally changed its focus to provide a wider range of services that includes various types of shorter-term care in addition to its traditional focus on long-term care.

What have not changed are our core values and beliefs.  These centre on both the child and our Carers. 

In order to make any placement work successfully, and for it to be a rewarding experience for all concerned, we devote a lot of effort to make sure that we match the needs of the child to the skills, personality and experience of the Carer.  We also work diligently to ensure the child has a "care plan" agreed with the placing Local Authority and that this is properly followed.

Success at school is also an important ingredient in getting a child on a secure path for their future growth and stability.  The Trust looks to identify the needs of children placed with it and to support them, right from pre-school age through their school and college careers, to overcome any learning difficulties and settle to make the most of their education.

But whatever we can provide for the child is incidental to the contribution made directly by you as their Carer.  For these reasons we work to ensure that potential Carers understand the demands as well as the rewards of this professional career.  Selection is itself a demanding process that involves a detailed study of you and your home and family, as well as a number of police, medical and other checks.  We will also ask you to attend some familiarisation and training sessions where you will learn what is involved, and meet other people who are also interested in fostering with the Trust.  This whole process can take several months before your application is presented to our Fostering Panel who will independently assess the evidence and make a recommendation to the Trust about your appointment.  We do need you to have a current driver's licence, or to be committed to obtaining one very soon. 

Once accepted, we will start you off on more training and you will need to attain an "NVQ level III in Caring for Children and Young People" within eighteen months of appointment.  We will help and support you in your study.  We will also want you to attend regular Foster Carer Support Group Meetings.  You will be assigned a social worker to work with you during your caring career and give you support during the time when you have children to care for.  We expect our Carers to attend our programme of post-appointment training.  This on-going training and support is designed to keep you abreast of professional developments, and to develop your skills and self-confidence in dealing with the, often troubled, children who will come into your care.  It also enables us to keep in continual contact with you, and you with us.  We also provide a telephone support service that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  If you are working with short-term placements, you should not expect that you will be busy for 52 weeks a year, but we would hope that we would be able to match placements for most of the year.

Apart from the training and support, we also provide a Carers Handbook that gives detailed advice and instructions on being a Carer.

We recognise that our Carers have to be special people and we value them beyond any other aspect of the Trust.  Accordingly, we pay an attractive weekly payment for each child in your care. Under recently amended tax rules for foster carers, you can earn up to £10,000 tax free for doing this valuable work.

If you are interested in joining us, please click on this link to obtain a form and send it back to us at carers@thecft.org.uk or contact us on 01905 798229.