Fostering in Balsall Common
Many children and young people in Balsall Common cannot be looked after by their own parents, for a number of reasons. There could be internal conflict within the family, or maybe a family illness that means a parent is not physically able to take care of their children. Sadly, the most common reason is some form of abuse or neglect. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Balsall Common to provide guidance and care to these children.
You don’t need any previous experience to become a foster carer, as full training will be provided. To start the application process, you just need at least one spare bedroom in your home, a caring and nurturing character – and lots of energy to provide a child with a secure and loving home. If this sounds like something that you could do, you could join our Balsall Common Fostering team!
Can I foster?
The first step is to check that you fulfil the basic general fostering requirements:
- Are you at least 21 years old?
- Do you have at least one spare bedroom in your home?
- Are you a full-time resident of the UK, or do you have indefinite leave to remain?
If you have answered ‘yes’ to all three questions, you have fulfilled the initial criteria. We would now like to talk to you further about why you would like to become a foster carer, and ask you some more questions.
Why Foster in Balsall Common with TACT?
TACT is the UK’s largest dedicated fostering charity – enabling us to provide care for children on a national level. 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 Balsall Common, we provide our foster carers 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.
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 will help ensure that the children in your care receive relevant 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. 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.
Pay & Allowances
Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our fees and allowances reflect this.
We work closely with, and are funded by, Birmingham City Council to assist with the care of children and young people in the area. This funding is distributed between the service we provide, and our fantastic team of foster carers. If you join our fostering team, the actual fostering allowance that you will receive will be dependant on the type of foster care you choose to do, the number of children that you care for, their age and the complexity of their needs.
Our Birmingham Fostering team also receive additional payments for children’s birthdays, holidays and religious festivals. 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).
Take a look below at some examples of the weekly Balsall Common Fostering payments you could expect to receive when you have a young person placed with you: