Fostering in Darlington
Imagine making a difference to children’s lives in Darlington. Imagine giving them the care and guidance they may never have had. Imagine seeing them flourish at school or college, or in a job they feel passionate about. If you become a foster carer, you could make this a reality.
Young people come into care for different reasons. Sometimes they are only in foster care for a relatively short period of time. This could be due to an illness in the family, or some conflict that requires the children to be removed until it is resolved. Sadly, some young people need to stay in care for longer periods due to neglect or abuse. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Darlington, who can provide care and guidance for these vulnerable young people.
There are many ways to make a difference as a foster carer. Our team at TACT are here to answer any questions you may have, and to help you to decide if it is the right choice for you and your household.
Meet Our Team
We have a great team of staff within the Darlington area.
Area Manager Richard Leech, joined TACT in 2013. He was drawn to TACT by our charity status and decided to leave his previous fostering agency due to the ‘profit’ that was being made from vulnerable children.
Richard has worked in children’s services for over 27 years, and is passionate about making a difference to children’s lives. He manages our team of brilliant social workers and support staff across Yorkshire and the North East, ensuring that our foster carers are fully supported.
We cover a wide area around Darlington, including Firthmoor, Cockerton, Haughton Le Skerne, Blackwell – and many other areas in the region.
Why Foster in Darlington with TACT?
TACT is the UK’s largest dedicated fostering charity. We provide care for children across the UK and reinvest any surplus income into providing more support and training for our foster carers.
As one of the leading fostering agencies covering Darlington, 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 you might expect from a fostering charity, such as a dedicated education service, health service and an online foster carer portal.
We’re more than just a fostering agency – we go above and beyond for our foster carers and the children they care for. Our TACT Connect service, is an example of this, ensuring that our care experienced young people 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 October 2021, Ofsted have announced that TACT Yorkshire & the North East has been rated ‘Good’ for it’s work with foster carers and looked after children.
“The children feel a genuine sense of belonging through the high-quality individualised care provided by their foster carers. Children are treated as valued members of the family and they speak with fondness about their foster families.” – Ofsted, 2021
24/7 Support
When you become an approved foster carer, you will be allocated your own Supervising Social Worker, who will be there to support you. Your Supervising Social Worker will have a manageable workload, so they will be able to dedicate more time to you.
We also provide an out-of-hours support service, for full peace of mind. We ensure that we reinvest any surplus income into providing more support for our fostering families because the better we support you, the better you will be able to provide care to the most vulnerable of children.
This is what we provide:
- Full 24/7 support. Your Supervising Social Worker will usually provide all the support you need, but our dedicated out-of-hours service will ensure that support is available to you 24/7.
- Foster carer portal. Our online portal will connect you to our community of foster carers and will be 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. Providing 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 in Darlington and the surrounding areas, ensuring you have a local outlet to meet other foster carers in your area, and even make new friends!
- Support for young people. Our Engagement and Activity Practitioners provide the children in your care with additional support, activities and events in Darlington.
- 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. Each area has at least one dedicated foster carer representative, who provide peer support and a direct line of communication between foster carers and TACT’s senior managers. Our Yorkshire and North East Team also operate a peer-to-peer support system, pairing newly approved foster carers with experienced TACT carers to provide another level of support.
Fostering Allowance Darlington
Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our fees and allowances reflect this.
TACT receive funding from Darlington Borough Council in order to provide care for young people in the area. Part of this funding is allocated as a fostering allowance, and is paid to foster carers. The exact fostering fee you will receive will depend on the number of children you care for, their age – and any additional needs.
All TACT foster carers in Darlington will receive additional payments for children’s birthdays, holidays and religious festivals. Additionally, we also pay long service awards and Refer a Friend rewards (if you recommend someone who then goes on to be an approved foster carer with us).
In terms of the weekly fostering allowance you could expect to receive as a foster carer in Darlington, when you have a young person placed with you, you can see some examples on our fostering allowances page.
Hear From Our Foster Carers in Darlington
“We need to show compassion”
Yasmin and Mohammad, TACT foster carers since 2020. The couple share some of their motivations and challenges they have overcome and tips they have learnt along the way
“I cried when TACT agreed to let me foster”
Before I got my first foster child, I was excited, nervous and fearful. What if I didn’t know what to say or do to make them feel safe and wanted? I had waited so long to foster, then suddenly, it was about to happen. I just had to put my best foot forward, trust in myself, and jump in.
“Fostering has been one of the best decisions we have made”
Sarah-Leigh and Amy, TACT foster carers since 2020, were inspired by their own fostering experiences to provide a loving, stable home for children. They cherish the rewards and challenges of fostering, finding it one of their best decisions despite initial doubts.
Fostering Information Events
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