Why foster with your council?
When you foster with your local council, you're never alone. You receive training locally from experts, and support from a team dedicated to helping you foster with confidence.
When you foster as part of Foster East, you join a friendly local community of foster carers, to share experiences and help each other.
As a foster carer for a local council, our experienced teams of social workers will approach you first to consider a potential match.
Everyone being part of the same team means we know our foster carers and the children in our care really well, helping us to make the best matches.
Children are kept close to the important people in their lives
Fostering with your local council minimises disruption to the child's life. Finding a foster family for a child locally means they can stay in their school, with their friends, and continue the after-school clubs they enjoy. Plus, it's less travel for everyone when it's time for a catch up visit with their family.
You're working directly with Children's Services
Your local council's Children's Services team has dedicated, specialist social workers who know their foster carers, and the children in their care, their families, schools and teachers.
Thanks to their direct relationship with our foster parents, and their knowledge of the child's story and personal circumstances, social workers at your local council can make the best matches between children in our care and available foster families.
When the child and foster family are a strong match for each other, the outcomes become much better for looked after children.
You'll benefit from local training courses and continuous development opportunities
Through your local council, and the Foster East partnership, our foster carers have access to a wide range of in-depth training courses on a variety of topics. A mix of virtual and local in-person sessions are delivered by leading experts in their field. We want you to be able to foster with confidence, and we'll make sure you get the training and support to achieve this.
Our network of 11 local authorities is working together to transform your foster caring experience from the moment you enquire with us, to supporting you through the pre-approval and application process, to ensuring you are equipped to foster with confidence and can help us to build better futures for the children in our care.
You have access to support 24/7
You will receive unparallelled professional support from a dedicated team of fostering workers, and have access to them 24/7, whatever the query.
The Foster East coaching system gives our foster carers a strong local support network. Less experienced foster carers are linked with foster carers who have been working with us for many years for advice and to benefit from their experience. By fostering with your council, you will gain access to local facilities and council services specifically tailored to our foster carers' needs.
We pay generous allowances
Your local council pays foster carers generously for their time, skills and experience in looking after the children in our care. Our fees and allowances payment scheme means you can foster with confidence, with extra money to cover birthdays, presents, school trips and prom dresses.
Foster with confidence with Foster East
Representing all local fostering authorities in the East of England, Foster East is here to help you on your journey to fostering with your local council. Our advisors are here to help you with any questions. We'd love to talk to you, call us today on 0330 024 1177 or enquire now online.