Fostering in Newham
Becoming a foster carer can change young people’s lives. Unfortunately, many children in the London Borough of Newham urgently require supportive and caring foster homes, so if becoming a foster carer is something you have been considering, now would be a great time to start your fostering journey. You could join our Fostering Newham team!
The role of a foster carer is to provide a stable, nurturing and caring home for vulnerable children. There are many different types of foster care that you can provide, and our enquiry officers will be able to talk you through the best options to suit you and your household.
Fostering is highly rewarding. Many of our current foster carers have shared the most amazing stories of how they’ve helped empower young people in their care to turn their own lives around.
Meet Our Team
We have a great team of staff who provide support to our foster carers in the Borough of Newham. Priscilla Makambe, our area manager for the area, started working for TACT in 2019. Priscilla previously worked in Local Authority Child Protection and Children with Disabilities Teams before moving into fostering more than 15 years ago.
We cover a wide area in and around the London Borough of Newham, including East Ham, West Ham, Stratford, Plaistow, Forest Gate, Beckton and Canning Town.
Why Foster in Newham with TACT?
TACT is the UK’s largest dedicated fostering charity. We have been providing nurturing and caring homes for vulnerable young people since 1993.
We work closely with Newham Council to help provide ‘matched’ foster homes for children and young people. We are a charity, so we do not ‘profit’ from foster care. Instead, our surplus income is reinvested into providing more support and training, ensuring that our Newham Fostering team are fully supported and have the knowledge they need to make a difference to children’s lives.
We also provide a number of unique additional support resources, such as a dedicated Education Service, Health Service – and an online foster carer portal. Our TACT Connect service ensures that when children leave the care system, they have TACT’s support into adulthood.
This is why 98% of our carers would recommend us to others thinking of fostering.
Rated As ‘Good’ By Ofsted
Following an inspection in March 2022, Ofsted have announced that TACT London, Essex and Hertfordshire has been rated ‘Good’ for its work with foster carers and looked after children.
“Children thrive and make good progress from their starting points. This is because they share positive and trusting relationships with their foster carers. These positive relationships help children to feel safe and secure.” – Ofsted 2022
24/7 Support
When you become a foster carer with TACT, you will be allocated your own Supervising Social Worker who will support you on your fostering journey, and provide any help you need. Our social workers have manageable workloads, allowing them to devote more time to you. In addition, we offer a dedicated out-of-hours support service for total peace of mind.
We reinvest surplus income into other support platforms to further support you. After all, the better we support you, the better you will be able to provide the care and guidance required to change childrens lives.
This is what we provide:
- Full 24/7 support. Provided by your Supervising Social Worker and our out-of-hours support service.
- Foster carer portal. An online information hub that provides advice and training to help with your day-to-day life as a foster carer.
- Education service. Ensures that all young people in your care receive the educational opportunities they are entitled to.
- 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 in Newham and the surrounding areas, 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 Newham
Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our Newham fostering fees and allowances reflect this.
The fostering allowance is made up of two elements:
- An allowance for each young person in your care: this will cover any expenses incurred for a young person such as food, clothing and any travel you may have to do.
- A foster carer fee: this is your fee, for your skill and knowledge when caring for young people in your home.
The actual allowance you will receive is dependent on a number of factors such as the type of foster care you are providing, the number of children in your care, their age, and the complexity of their needs.
There are also 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).
Below are some examples of the weekly Newham fostering allowances you could expect to receive when you have a young person placed with you:
Hear From Our Foster Carers in Newham
“There should be enough love to go around”
Fostering can be challenging, but seeing the difference you can make to a young person’s life is so rewarding. My home is a happy one, and my sons have been able to adapt well to fostering situations.
“As a foster carer I try to support every child’s needs.”
Mohammed is a single male carer who started fostering after his own experiences growing up.
“Fostering has bought so much happiness and laughter to our home”
It is a difficult balancing act – being a father to her but not making her feel like I am trying to replace that special relationship that she has with her birth father. We always say that she has not lost anyone, but instead she now has two families who love her.
Fostering Information Events
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Start Your Fostering Journey
