You could change the lives of children in your local area by becoming a foster carer. Fostering in Hertfordshire is all about providing young people with a safe, stable and caring home. A place where they can recover from any trauma they may have experienced.

To watch children regain their confidence at school or college, or just generally in their everyday lives, is so rewarding. There are lots of different ways that you could make a real difference. Our team of enquiry officers here at TACT will be able to advise you about the different types of fostering that best suit you and your household.

The length of time that a young person remains in foster care entirely depends on the reasons they came into care in the first place. For example, conflicts or illnesses within the family could mean that children only need to be fostered for a short period of time. Unfortunately, many young people require care for much longer due to neglect or abuse. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Hertfordshire in order to provide care and guidance for these vulnerable young people.

To begin your fostering in Hertfordshire journey, there are some initial requirements to fulfil. They are:

• To be aged 21 years or over
• To have at least one spare bedroom in your home
• Be a full time resident of the UK

Many people rule themselves out of fostering because they feel that they don’t have any childcare skills or experience.  Whilst some experience is preferred, full and ongoing training will be provided, at no cost to you. As a charity, we reinvest surplus income into providing more support and training for our fostering households. Some of our foster carers discover that they are able to bring skills they already have into fostering, such as caring for children with learning or physical disabilities.

If this sounds like something YOU could do, you could join our Hertfordshire Fostering team!

TACT foster carers, The Wrights, talk about how proud they are of the young people they have cared for, and about the support they receive from TACT:

Why foster in Hertfordshire with TACT?

TACT is the UK’s largest dedicated fostering charity. 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 Hertfordshire, we provide our foster parents 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.

---

“Being a former foster child myself, I was ready and pleased to help vulnerable children in need. I chose to foster with TACT because I liked the fact that they are a charity and since the beginning they have proved to be very helpful and supportive whenever needed.”

– Foster Carer (East London)

---

We cover a wide area in and around Hertfordshire, including Hemel Hempstead, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Royston, Sawbridgeworth – and many other areas in the region.

We have a great team of staff within the Hertfordshire area. Mary Richard-Paul, our area manager for the area, started working for TACT in 2010. Mary is passionate about pursuing social justice and advocating for people who may not be able to do so on their own. She manages our great team of social workers in London and the East – ensuring that our team of foster parents are fully supported.

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

Hertfordshire Fostering Allowance

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

If you join our Hertfordshire Fostering team, the total fostering allowance that you receive will vary based on a number of factors, including the type of foster care you are providing, the number of children that you care for and their age, as well as the complexity of their needs.

You will also receive additional payments for children’s birthdays, holidays and religious festivals. Additionally, 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).

In terms of the weekly Herefordshire fostering allowance you could expect to receive when you have a young person placed with you, here are some examples:

 

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 initial training is called Skills To Foster, and is taken within the foster carer assessment period. 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

We understand how important a high level of support is to our foster carers, which is why we reinvest surplus income into providing more support for our fostering families. Also, our Supervising Social Workers have manageable workloads, so that they are able to dedicate more time to you. After all, 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 Supervising Social Worker will usually provide all the support you need, but we also have a dedicated out-of-hours support service for total peace of mind.
• 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. 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 was established in order to provide young people in your care with ongoing physical and mental health monitoring.
• Support groups. Our support groups operate all over the country, 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.

Transferring to TACT

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

You can even transfer to us with children already in placement. In all situations, the wellbeing of the child will always come first, so ensuring stability and consistency continues for the child or young person is something we would work very closely with you on.

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