This Is Not Just Fostering…it’s a community of care and support
Christina Brandi, TACT’s Strategic Director of Children’s Services
On why TACT is not simply a fostering service; it’s a community.
Every day across TACT, our community of foster carers do extraordinary things. They create safety where there’s been uncertainty, consistency where there’s been disruption and hope where it may have been hard to find.
That’s why this Foster Care Fortnight, we’re sharing an important message: ‘this is not just fostering‘. It’s so much more and, crucially, it’s never something that should be done alone.
A community of support
Our foster carer’s dedication, resilience, love and advocacy changes lives, and our responsibility as an organisation is to ensure they feel supported, valued and recognised, not just when things go well, but through every challenge too.
We recognise this, and it’s why we place such a strong emphasis on building a community, not just a fostering service. One where carers feel connected to each other, to their area teams and to the wider organisation.
Support that’s practical, emotional and professional
We know that fostering brings immense rewards, but it can also be demanding and emotionally complex. Therefore, it’s important that our approach to support is holistic and we’ve worked hard to develop our offer, based on our foster carer’s needs.
Support can mean many things to our foster carers. It might be having a consistent, trusted relationship with a supervising social worker and a local team who really knows you, your family and the child you care for. It might be the reassurance of knowing that help is available, day or night, when difficult moments arise.
It may also be about having opportunities to grow and develop your skills and confidence, or about the value of connecting with other carers. The shared understanding that comes from peer relationships, wellbeing events and honest conversations can be just as important.
We’re also committed to supporting our carer’s wider wellbeing. Whether it’s providing them with access to specialist education or health services, or self-care opportunities and short breaks, we aim to recognise the reality of fostering life and the need for carers to feel supported in practical ways too. This includes financial rewards and allowances that recognise fostering as more than just ‘helping out’, acknowledging carers as a vital and valued part of the professional team around the child.
For TACT, what we do is not just fostering. It is using our experience and knowledge and the evidence we get from our carers, young people and the care-experienced community to make a positive difference for all children and young people in care. We passionately believe the care system can, and should, be better. Just as our foster carers always go the extra mile to support our children, we are always looking for ways to make the system better for children and foster families.
This wrap around support is central to helping carers not just to continue to foster, but to thrive.
Saying thank you – now our carers can too
As well as providing support, saying thank you is baked into our culture. Our Pass the Praise scheme for foster carers gives us the opportunity to recognise the dedication of our foster carers, whether it’s a big celebration, overcoming a challenge or the everyday kindness that defines what it is to be a foster carer.
During Foster Care Fortnight, we’re launching a peer-to-peer Pass the Praise scheme so that our community of foster carers can recognise each other. This new initiative is about strengthening their connection to one another and celebrating collaboration.
This is not just fostering
It’s belonging. It’s being supported. It’s being valued. It’s knowing that when you step forward for a child, you’re not doing it alone.
To every foster carer in our community, thank you for what you do. And to our colleagues, thank you for the roles you play in supporting and championing the people who make fostering possible.
