Fostering in Portsmouth
If you live in Portsmouth, you could change the lives of children and young people by becoming a foster carer. Children come into care for lots of different reasons, such as internal family conflicts and long term illness. Unfortunately, the most common reason is neglect or abuse. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Portsmouth to provide caring and safe homes to these children, to enable them to recover from what might have been a traumatic time for them.
One of the myths surrounding fostering is that you need lots of childcare experience. This is not the case, and we provide both full and ongoing training to our Fostering Portsmouth Team! 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 Fostering Portsmouth Team!
Meet Our Team
We have a great team of staff within the Portsmouth 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.
We cover all the major areas in and around Portsmouth, including: Buckland, Southsea, Kingston, Stamshaw – and many more areas in the region.
Why Foster in Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth, 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.
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
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 unique service will provide the children in your care with full and 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 Portsmouth
Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our fees and allowances reflect this.
If you join our Fostering Portsmouth 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. In addition to your fostering allowance, 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).
Here are some examples of the weekly Fostering Portsmouth payments you could expect to receive when you have a young person placed with you:
Hear From Our Foster Carers in Portsmouth
“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.
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Start Your Fostering Journey
