You will have your own Supervising Social Worker who will guide you through the fostering process. You will have access to 24 hour support from Alliance Foster Care for 365 days of the year. You will have specialist local training and foster carer support groups. You are never on your own – you will be part of a wider team of professionals who work together to improve the life chances and quality of life of a foster child.
Approval Process
If you wish to take the next step to apply to become a foster carer with Alliance Foster Care either:
Contact us by telephone 01604 879 373 or email admin@alliancefostercare.co.uk and we will arrange to meet you at your house (this is called an initial visit). When we have visited you and we mutually agree to progress your enquiry, an application form will be given or sent to you directly. You will also be given the opportunity to speak directly with an approved foster carer to ask them any questions regarding the Agency and the service we provide our carers.
What happens during the assessment process?
The process takes approximately four to six months. The assessment is a thorough look at your life. The Supervising Social Worker or Independent Assessor is highly skilled and experienced in undertaking these assessments and will support you every step of the way.
At the beginning, we will require your consent to undertake checks on you and your family with the following agencies:
- Criminal Records Bureau
- Local authority and other agencies.
We will then arrange and pay for you to have a full medical check with your own GP.
You need to provide three referees (non family members) who can comment on your suitability to become a foster carer.
We will invite you to attend the three day Skills to Foster training course. This course will give you the opportunity to learn more about the fostering process; meet an experienced foster carer and meet local people who are also in the fostering assessment process.
A Supervising Social Worker / Independent Assessor will arrange to visit you and your family on a regular basis to enable them to collect all of the information for the assessment report. Once completed this report is checked by the agency, prior to being presented to the Fostering Panel. You are invited and expected to attend the panel, where a recommendation will be made.
This may sound a big commitment... but most people who have undergone an assessment process have told us they found the process far less daunting than they originally perceived.
What happens after I am approved?
Once approved as a foster carer with Alliance Foster Care your details will be provided to local authorities where a potential match with your family will be considered for a child/children.
Supporting our carers
Foster carers with Alliance Foster Care can expect to receive:-
- A dedicated qualified Supervising Social Worker. This worker will provide the one to one support to the carer for the majority of the time.
- Support on a 24 hour basis from Alliance Foster Care for 7 days a week for 365 days a year.
- A team of local Supervising Social Workers.
- A minimum of one telephone call per week.
- Fortnightly home supervision visits.
- Training in your local area to widen your professional foster care portfolio.
- Regular local support groups for foster carers.
- Fostering Network membership.
- Annual social activities.
- Regular foster carer newsletters.
- A generous Fostering Allowance for each child when in placement
- To be part of a professional team.
- Access to the Agency’s consultant psychotherapist.
- Support from our Youth Development Officer.
- Support from our Resource Officer in respect of Children’s Education.
Alliance Foster Care values every one of our carers!
