Fostering in Essex
If changing the lives of children and young people in your local area is important to you, then fostering in Essex could be your next step.
Fostering is all about providing children with a stable and caring home – somewhere that they can recover from any trauma, neglect or abuse they may have experienced. Many of our current foster carers state that it is extremely rewarding to watch children regain their confidence at school or college – or just generally in their everyday lives. There are lots of different types of fostering that you can do, and our team of enquiry officers here at TACT will be able to advise you about the different ways that you could make a difference.
As young people come into care for different reasons, the length of time that they remain in foster care can vary. Conflict or illness within the family could mean that children only need to be fostered for a short period of time. Sadly, many young people require care for much longer due to neglect or abuse. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Essex in order to provide care and guidance for these vulnerable young people.
Meet Our Team
We have a great team of staff within the Essex area. Priscilla Makambe, our area manager for the area, started working for TACT in 2019. Priscilla previously worked in Local Authority Child Protection and Children with Disabilities Teams before moving into fostering more than 15 years ago.
We cover a wide area around Essex, including Colchester, Chelmsford, Epping, Southend-on-Sea, Harlow – and many other areas in the region.
Why Foster in Essex with TACT?
TACT is the UK’s largest dedicated fostering charity. We reinvest any surplus income into providing more support and training for foster carers interested in fostering.
As one of the leading fostering agencies in Essex, we provide our foster parents with training and support that is local to them – to enable them to change young people’s lives. Because we reinvest surplus income, we can provide additional support over and above what is required of a fostering charity, such as a dedicated education service, health service and an online foster carer portal.
Were more than just a fostering agency – we go above and beyond to look after our foster carers and the children they provide care for. Our TACT Connect service ensures that when children leave the care system, they have TACT’s support for life.
This is why 98% of our carers would recommend us to others thinking of fostering.
Rated As ‘Good’ By Ofsted
Following an inspection in March 2022, Ofsted have announced that TACT London, Essex and Hertfordshire has been rated ‘Good’ for its work with foster carers and looked after children.
“Children thrive and make good progress from their starting points. This is because they share positive and trusting relationships with their foster carers. These positive relationships help children to feel safe and secure.” – Ofsted 2022
24/7 Support
We understand how important a high level of support is to our foster carers, which is why we reinvest surplus income into providing more support for our fostering families. Also, our Supervising Social Workers have manageable workloads, so that they are able to dedicate more time to you. After all, the better we support you, the better you will be able to provide the care and guidance required to change childrens lives.
This is what we provide:
- Full 24/7 support. Your Supervising Social Worker will usually provide all the support you need, but we also have a dedicated out-of-hours support service for total peace of mind.
- Foster carer portal. An online community of TACT foster carers and a place to find information, advice, training and other resources to help you with your day-to-day life as a foster carer.
- Education service. Our specialist service provides support and advice to help ensure that the children in your care receive the best possible educational opportunities.
- Health service. Our health service was established in order to provide young people in your care with ongoing physical and mental health monitoring.
- Support groups. Our support groups operate all over the country, and provide you with a local outlet to meet other carers in your area, share experiences and knowledge, and even make new friends!
- Support for young people. Our Children’s Resource Workers provide the children in your care with additional support, activities and events.
- Supporting your own children. We understand that your own children play an important role in the fostering household. As such, our Children Who Foster events provide your own children with an opportunity to socialise with other young people who make an amazing contribution to fostering.
- Peer support. In some areas, peer-to-peer support may be available. These work by pairing newly approved foster carers with experienced TACT carers to provide another level of support.
Fostering Allowance Essex
Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our fees and allowances reflect this.
If you join our Fostering Essex team, the total fostering allowance that you receive will vary based on a number of factors, including the type of foster care you are providing, the number of children that you care for and their age, as well as the complexity of their needs.
You will also receive additional payments for children’s birthdays, holidays and religious festivals. Additionally, we also pay long service awards and a Refer a Friend fee (if you recommend someone who then goes on to be an approved foster carer with us).
Hear From Our Foster Carers in Essex
“There should be enough love to go around”
Fostering can be challenging, but seeing the difference you can make to a young person’s life is so rewarding. My home is a happy one, and my sons have been able to adapt well to fostering situations.
“As a foster carer I try to support every child’s needs.”
Mohammed is a single male carer who started fostering after his own experiences growing up.
“Fostering has bought so much happiness and laughter to our home”
It is a difficult balancing act – being a father to her but not making her feel like I am trying to replace that special relationship that she has with her birth father. We always say that she has not lost anyone, but instead she now has two families who love her.
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Start Your Fostering Journey
