Children and young people in Birmingham come into care for lots of different reasons. It could be due to family breakdowns, or an illness. However, the main reason why young people enter the care system is because of some form of neglect or even abuse. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Birmingham in order to provide these young people with care and guidance – to help them recover from any previous trauma they may have experienced.

To become a foster carer in Birmingham, you don’t need any previous experience or qualifications as full training will be provided. 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 Birmingham Team!

Watch Samantha, one of our West Midlands foster carers, talk about what it is like to be a TACT foster carer:

Why foster in Birmingham 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 Birmingham, 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.

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. 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.

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“TACT were recommended to us by family members who were also carers and came with extremely positive reviews. We’ve felt supported throughout our journey by TACT staff who provide us with excellent support. We’d 100% recommend TACT.”

– Foster Carer (West Midlands)

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We are currently looking for foster carers in and around Birmingham, in areas such as: Balsall Heath, Harborne, Perry Barr, Small Heath – and many other areas in the region.

We have a great team of staff within the Birmingham area. Michelle Patterson, our area manager for the West Midlands, is truly passionate about making a difference to children’s lives. She manages our great team of social workers in the area – ensuring that our team of foster carers are fully supported. Michelle has been with TACT for over 12 years’, and has previously worked for other not-for-profit fostering agencies.

We provide our foster parents in Birmingham with full training, 24/7 support and a generous fostering allowance:

Fostering Birmingham allowance

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

TACT are part-funded by Birmingham City Council, and we work closely with them to help provide fostering homes for young people in the area. If you join our Fostering Birmingham team, the actual fostering fees and allowances that you receive will depend on the type of fostering you are looking to undertake, the number of children that you are caring for, the complexity of their needs and their age.

Our Fostering Birmingham team 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 allowances you could expect to receive when you have a young person placed with you:

 

Full training

You don’t need to have taken any previous training to make a fostering application with us. Some childcare experience is preferable, but not essential as we will provide you with full and ongoing training to ensure that you have the skills necessary to change children’s lives.

Your training will begin early in the application and assessment stage. The course is called Skills To Foster, and it is delivered remotely. When you become an approved foster carer, you are then allocated a full training programme to further your skills – helping you care for, and make a difference to, more children and young people.

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

24/7 support

For total piece of mind, TACT provide their foster carers with 24/7 support. When you become a foster carer with us, you will be allocated your own Supervising Social Worker – who will provide most of the support that you will need. We also have a dedicated out-of-hours service, ensuring that there will always be someone to help you, or to answer any questions you may have. As a charity, we reinvest surplus income into providing additional support services. We know that 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 own Supervising Social Worker will provide you with most of the support you need, but our dedicated out-of-hours support service will give you total peace of mind.
• Foster carer portal. An online hub, providing a community of TACT foster carers and a place to find information, advice, training and other resources.
• 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 health service provides the young people in your care with ongoing physical and mental health care monitoring.
• Support groups. Our support groups operate all over Birmingham, providing a local outlet to meet other carers in your area and share experiences and knowledge.
• Support for young people. Our Children’s Resource Workers provide the children in your care with additional support, activities and events in Birmingham.
• 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.

Transferring to TACT

There are many reasons why people who are already approved foster carers in Birmingham may look to transfer from their local authority or agency. If you currently foster in Birmingham, we can provide a ‘fast track’ application process to ensure that the transfer to us is straightforward and stress-free.

Our Supervising Social Workers have manageable workloads, so they are able to dedicate more time to you. You can also transfer to us with children already in placement – we would just need to ensure that the transfer is still in the best interests of the young people you care for. We would work closely with you and your current fostering provider to ensure stability and that consistency of care is maintained.

If you are interested in finding out more about transferring to us, simply select ‘I am currently a foster carer’ on our form. We will then be able to talk you through the process in more detail.

A fostering charity that goes above and beyond…

• Our foster carer perks include a number of exclusive memberships and special offers – many of which are available via our Foster Carer Portal.
• Our TACT Connect service ensures that our care leavers continue to receive help, support and guidance even after they have officially left our care.
• We advocate for young people, actively campaigning in order to instigate positive change within the care system.

Start your fostering journey in Birmingham today, and change a child’s life. Simply fill in the form on this page to get started!