Fostering in Gateshead
By becoming a foster carer in Gateshead, you could change children’s lives. If you’re looking for a new challenge that is rewarding, with the focus being on helping other people, then fostering could be for you.
Children come into care for different reasons. Sometimes they are only in care for a relatively short period of time due to a family illness or conflict within the home. Other times, they need to stay in foster care for longer periods due to neglect or abuse. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Gateshead in order to provide care and guidance for these vulnerable young people.
There are many ways that you can make a difference, depending on the type of fostering that best fits your household. Our enquiry officers here at TACT will be able to advise you about the different types of fostering that you could undertake. We place no pressure on anyone to continue with a fostering application. It needs to be the right choice for you and your household.
Meet Our Team
We have a great team of staff within the Gateshead 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 Gateshead, including Bensham, Saltwell, Deckham, Carr Hill – and many other areas in the region. We work closely with Gateshead Children’s Services in order to match children with our fantastic team of foster carers.
Why Foster in Gateshead with TACT?
TACT is the UK’s largest dedicated fostering charity, providing care for children across the UK. On a local level our team in the North East work in partnership with Gateshead Children’s Services to provide care for children and young people in the local area.
As a charity and one of the leading fostering agencies in Gateshead, we provide our foster parents with training and support that is local to them – to enable them to change young people’s lives. We reinvest any surplus income into providing support and training over and above what you might expect from a fostering agency, 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. One example of this is our TACT Connect service, which ensures 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
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 children’s 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 Engagement and Activity Practitioners 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. 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 Gateshead
Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our fees and allowances reflect this.
If you join our Gateshead Fostering 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 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 Gateshead fostering allowances you could expect to receive when you have a young person placed with you, you can find more on our fostering allowances page.
Hear From Our Foster Carers in Gateshead
“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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