Fostering in Edinburgh
There are many children in Edinburgh who cannot be looked after by their own family. This could be because of illness or family breakdowns or because they have experienced some form of neglect. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Edinburgh to provide care and support to these children. If you have got a spare bedroom, a caring nature and energy to provide a child with a happy home, we believe you could become an amazing foster carer. You could join our Edinburgh Fostering team!
Meet Our Team
We have a great team of staff who ensure our foster carers in and around Edinburgh get the best possible support.
The team is lead by Natasha Cartwright, our area manager in Scotland. Natasha is truly passionate about making a difference to children’s lives. She started working for TACT in 2021, Prior to this, she had been a social worker for 26 years, as well as working in a local authority family placement team.
The team in Scotland work closely with the City of Edinburgh Council to help provide caring and nurturing foster homes, for vulnerable children and young people.
As we are a charity, we do not ‘profit’ from foster care. Instead, we reinvest surplus income into providing more support and training for our Fostering Glasgow team.
Why Foster in Edinburgh with TACT?
As a charity we put children at the heart of everything that we do and all of our surplus income goes back into services for our carers and the children that they look after.
Foster carers come to us for many reasons, they stay with us – because we help them do the most rewarding job in the world. Together we transform the lives of children and young people, giving them the chance to lead happy, loving, fulfilled lives.
Our reinvestment of surplus income enables us to provide additional support over and above what you might expect from a fostering charity. For example, we provide a dedicated education service, health service and an online foster carer portal.
We’re 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.
The Promise
The Promise Scotland started back in 2016 when Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, made a commitment that Scotland “would come together and love its most vulnerable children and give them the childhood they deserve”.
This led to an Independent Care Review, which was driven by those with experience of care and listening to the voices of over 5,500 children, young people and adults.
We are dedicated to #KeepThePromise to help continue to provide better lives for children and young people and ensure that every child and young person grows up feeling loved, safe and respected.
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.
- Health service. Our health service was started to ensure that the physical and mental health of children in your care is fully monitored.
- 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.
- Support groups. Regular meetings and support groups, giving you the chance to meet other foster carers and share experience.
- Support for young people. Our Engagement and Activity Practitioners 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. Each area has at least one dedicated foster carer representative, who provide peer support and a direct line of communication between foster carers and TACT’s senior managers. Our Scotland Team also operate a peer-to-peer support system, pairing newly approved foster carers with experienced TACT carers to provide another level of support.
Fostering Allowance Edinburgh
Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our fees and allowances reflect this.
We are directly funded by the local council in Edinburgh in order to assist with the care of children and young people from the local 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.
As part of our Edinburgh fostering team, you would also receive additional payments for children’s birthdays, holidays and religious festivals. We also pay long service awards and a Refer a Friend reward (if you recommend someone who then goes on to be an approved foster carer with us).
You can see some examples of the weekly Edinburgh Fostering payments you could receive when you have a young person placed, on our fostering allowances page.
Hear From Our Foster Carers in Edinburgh
“It has been amazing to see him grow and develop life skills”
After having some concerns that being LGBTQ+ might be a barrier to fostering, Martin & James made a real difference to a young person’s life.
“We are moved by how much they have flourished”
Duncan and Doretta, TACT foster carers since 2018, chose fostering to offer a safe, stable home to children in care. They were drawn to TACT Scotland for its strong support and training. Caring for a sibling group, they’re deeply moved by how much the children have flourished, achieving success in both home and school.
“Fostering keeps you young and fit”
Joyce and John, TACT foster carers since 2010 share their story on how “Fostering keeps you young and fit”. Starting with their first placement, and how this led on to fostering their 3rd child
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