Fostering in Southampton

There are many children and young people in Southampton that require a caring and nurturing home, because they are unable to live with their own families. This could be because of internal family conflicts, or an illness that means that their parents or guardians are temporarily unable to care for them. Sadly, the main cause of children coming into care is neglect or abuse. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Southampton to provide safe and caring homes for these children. If making a difference sounds like something you could do, you could join our Fostering Southampton team of foster carers.

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Can I Foster in Southampton?

Training & 24/7 Support

Pay & Allowances

Can I foster in Southampton?

You don’t need any previous experience to start fostering in Southampton. To proceed with an application, you would need to meet this initial criteria:

To be over 21 years old (there is no upper age limit)
To have at least one spare bedroom
To be a full-time resident in the UK or have indefinite leave to remain

You would also need the time and flexibility to dedicate yourself to fostering. Good written and spoken English is essential, as you would be required to work with other professionals, and provide written records detailing the progress of any young people in your care.

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Full Training

You don’t need any previous experience or training to become a foster carer.

Our full training will ensure that you are fully prepared to care for children in your home. Our training is either provided locally if it is face-to-face, or virtually.

The initial training is called Skills To Foster, which is taken virtually within the foster carer assessment period. This short course will provide you with an introduction to fostering, along with the opportunity to ask as many questions as you need to.

When you become an approved foster carer with TACT, you will be allocated a full training programme to further your skills – helping you care for, and make a difference to, more children and young people in the Southampton area.

We even provide specialist training in order to help you care for children with specific needs or requirements.

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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 Southampton 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 Southampton.
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.

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Pay & Allowances

Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our fees and allowances reflect this.

We work closely with, and are funded by, Southampton 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.

There are also 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 Southampton Fostering payments you could expect to receive when you have a young person placed with you:

Allowance for caring for a single child

Receive an average of £476 per week

Allowance for caring for two children

Receive an average of £952 per week

Allowance for caring for a child with additional needs

Receive an average of £549 per week

Allowance for caring for a parent and their child

Receive an average of £813 per week

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Christine looks after our fostering Southampton team

Meet The Area Manager

“I have always worked with children from 0-18 years in a variety of settings including the NHS, Local Authorities, and small Charitable organisations. TACT’s ethos is putting the child at the centre and that resonates with me – making TACT a charity I am proud to be a part of.”

Christine McGillvary – TACT Area Manager London & The South

Christine 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.

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Rated ‘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

Training

Pay & Allowances

What Our Foster Carers Say

“I like the charitable organisation and the consideration they show to the children and young people, as well as foster carers. I would happily recommend TACT to anyone that was thinking about fostering. They really do take onboard our views about meeting the needs of children with disabilities as well as our needs as carers. This really does make us feel heard, valued and that they do care.”