Kelly & Dan
I think for us the overwhelming reason we chose UK fostering was that you reflect our own outlook of putting the child/ren first. Children that are brought into care have already suffered so much loss and having resources available to help us help them is so important to us.
When looking after children placed in care it is all too often the case that budgets and profits dictate the care that the child receives. It was a breath of fresh air to hear some of UK Fostering’s plans to enrich children’s lives, just a few examples being the plan to have holiday homes available for subsidised holidays to try to counter act the difficulties encountered due to paying high ‘peak rates’ as looked after children cannot be taken out of school during term time. And also arranging extra activities to help engage children in something they like and the fun activities planned (white water rafting and rock climbing). Another thing that was vitally important to us was the access to services like counselling, which again I know UK Fostering offer.
Having been a carer with UK Fostering for 6 months now we are very glad your child-first approach drew us to you. The support we have received has been outstanding, our fostering social worker is available 24/7 to help with any issues that we feel we need extra guidance with. When we began the process of our fostering application we were aware that, at times, there would be issues that we would find difficult to deal with emotionally. However, along the way feelings have cropped up that we did not and probably could not consider. Our fostering social worker has always been available to talk us through these feelings as well as providing us with physical and emotional support when needed, even being willing to come out to see us at weekends. The support does not end there though, we feel thoroughly supported by the whole team at UK Fostering and feel that we could not have chosen a better independent fostering agency.
Caroline and Robert
We started thinking about fostering a few years ago and in March 2013, decided to look into fostering in more depth. We started looking on the internet at fostering information. The UK Fostering site was easy to read and provided us with a lot of useful information on fostering. We made contact with Tim at UK Fostering and he arranged a convenient time to come and visit us in our home. When we met with Tim, he explained a lot about the different types of fostering that we could become involved with, what the next steps would be if we decided that we wanted to commit to becoming foster carers, and a bit about the assessment process that we would need to go through in order to become foster carers.
We decided that we did want to commit to fostering children and because of the initial contact with Tim and the support he gave us, we decided to do this through UK Fostering.
We were supported very well throughout the assessment process by Emma, our supervising social worker. She worked with us over several months, and was responsive and sensitive to our needs. The process did involve quite a few in depth questions, but we were very much supported through this process by Emma. We went for our assessment panel in January 2014 and were very pleased when it was confirmed that we were now approved foster carers!
UK Fostering has been brilliant in terms of the support and the training they have given us. The training was excellent and covered a wide range of areas including behaviour management and de-escalation, emotional wellbeing, cyber safety and first aid. Throughout this whole process, we have felt valued and supported by the team at UK Fostering and very much part of the initiatives and activities organised by UK Fostering.
So far, we have been involved in some respite foster care for children, which was enjoyable and rewarding. We are now looking forward to being matched with suitable foster children in the future. We have had the opportunity to meet other foster carers at the various training and social events organised by UK Fostering, and this has been very helpful, to share experiences and ideas with other families who are fostering. We feel part of the UK Fostering support network which is reassuring, and we know that we will be supported by the Team whenever we need it, with our fostering placements.
Our experience with UK Fostering has been very positive and if you are thinking of fostering children, we would recommend joining UK Fostering.
Kind regards and good luck!
Abu & Rukhshanda
Working with UK Fostering has been the perfect introduction to fostering. The entire team is friendly, knowledgeable, empathetic, and understanding to the needs of the young person, their family and the foster family. What really sets UK Fostering apart from other agencies is their willingness to invest so heavily in both finding and then retaining the best carers. They pride themselves in always being available, happy to help and provide a jovial, professional and reliable service and that’s what makes it more pleasing that it is such a rapidly expanding agency.
Personally, I’d have no hesitation in recommending UK Fostering to any prospective foster carers. They have a well thought out and tactical approach to setting up placements and work tirelessly to ensure that their carers always feel supported in dealing with often complex situations.
Colin
I chose to write this as opposed to my wife or daughter because I am the main carer and it was my idea to open our home to children that need help, love, a safe home and to be looked after for a period time. It has been like a roller coaster at times, with ups and downs, but I love fostering and hope to continue doing it for a long time to come.
It is so rewarding to be a part in making a difference to a young childs life, from seeing them come, some being unwell and some just sad to be away from their own families, to helping the children become healthy and happy, and seeing them have a smile on their face really makes all the difference in knowing you have played a part in achieving this and helping them become the individual that they are.
The teenagers we have with us at present, tell us they want to be foster carers when they get older, this gives us great satisfaction.
We have worked with UK Fostering for the past year and have been fully supported, both with the day to day contact by staff and also from a social side, with Xmas Dinner, and activity days out.