Fostering in Bournemouth
Many children and young people in Bournemouth require urgent care and guidance, because they are unable to stay with their own families. Some reasons for this are internal family conflicts, or an illness that means their parents or guardians are unable to care for them because they need to stay in hospital for a while. Sadly, the main cause of children coming into care is because of neglect or abuse. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Bournemouth to provide safe and caring homes to these children.
You don’t need any previous experience to start fostering in Bournemouth, 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 Bournemouth Fostering Team!
Meet Our Team
We are currently looking for foster carers in Bournemouth and the surrounding areas. We have a great team of staff within the area. Christine McGillvary, our area manager for the region, is truly passionate about making a difference to children’s lives. She manages our great team of social workers that cover the South Coast – ensuring that our team of foster parents are fully supported. Christine has over 19 years’ experience in fostering, specifically within the charitable sector.
Why Foster in Bournemouth 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 the area, we work with Bournemouth Borough Council in order to find expertly-matched foster homes. Therefore, fostering with TACT will mean caring for children and young people in your local area. Our reinvestment of surplus income enables us to provide additional support over and above what is expected of a fostering charity. For example, we provide 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. We also ensure that our care-experienced young people receive support for life, via our TACT Connect service.
This is why 98% of our carers would recommend us to others thinking of fostering.
Rated As ‘Good’ By Ofsted
Following an inspection in January 2022, Ofsted have announced that TACT London & the South has been rated ‘Good’ for its work with foster carers and looked after children.
“The fostering service provides a good quality of care, and the experiences and outcomes for children are very positive. Children, many of whom have complex needs, receive personalised care that meets their needs, and they are kept safe.” – Ofsted, 2022
24/7 Support
In order to help change children’s lives, 24/7 support is essential. We reinvest surplus income into providing more support for our fostering families, ensuring that you are never on your own.
When you become an approved TACT foster carer, you will be allocated your own Supervising Social Worker. All our Supervising Social Workers have manageable workloads, so that they are able to dedicate more time to you. We know that the better we support you, the better you will be able to provide the care and guidance required to make a difference to 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 our dedicated out-of-hours support service will ensure that there is always someone available should you require any help or advice.
- 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. A specialist service that provides support and advice to help ensure that young people in your care receive the best possible educational opportunities.
- Health service. Our health service was started to ensure that the physical and mental health of children in your care is fully monitored..
- Support groups. Our support groups operate in Bournemouth and the surrounding areas. They provide you with a local outlet to meet other carers and share experiences.
- Support for young people. Our Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner’s provide the children in your care with additional support, activities and events in Bournemouth.
- 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. Sometimes, 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 Bournemouth
Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our fees and allowances reflect this.
We are directly funded by Bournemouth Borough Council in order 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 Bournemouth Fostering team also receive additional payments for childrens 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 Bournemouth Fostering payments you could expect to receive when you have a young person placed with you:
Hear From Our Foster Carers in Bournemouth
“She is the most beautiful part of my life.”
Sharntel, a TACT foster carer since 2015, cares for a 10-year-old girl with epilepsy and autism. Despite the challenges, Sharntel finds immense joy in their journey, celebrating small victories like eating independently. Her foster daughter has become the most beautiful part of her life and inspired her advocacy for children with disabilities.
“Both our children see him as their big brother”
Having children of your own shouldn’t prevent you from fostering. As long as you are matched carefully with a child, it can really benefit both your own children and the children you foster to have other children around.
“I love watching the way that she has developed and grown in confidence”
There is no doubt that fostering, while challenging, is also extremely rewarding. I love watching the way that our foster daughter has developed and grown in confidence. I am very proud that she has completed her college course and secured an apprenticeship.
Fostering Information Events
It looks like there are no events happening in this area right now
Start Your Fostering Journey
