There are many children and young people in Lewisham that really need urgent care and guidance because they cannot be looked after by their own families. There are a variety of reasons for this. It could be that there is a degree of internal conflict within the family home, and that children need to be temporarily removed while that conflict is resolved. It could also be due to an illness, meaning that parents or guardians are physically unable to meet the needs of their children. Unfortunately, it could also be because of abuse or neglect. TACT are recruiting foster carers in Lewisham to provide a safe and caring home to these children. We work closely with Lewisham children’s services to ensure that children are matched to our team of foster carers.

You don’t need any previous experience to start fostering in Lewisham, 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 Lewisham Fostering Team!

Why foster in Lewisham 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 Lewisham, TACT work closely with Lewisham Council in order to help find foster homes for children and young people in the local area. To do this, we provide our foster carers with training and support that is local to them – to enable them to change young people’s lives. As a charity, we reinvest all our surplus income into providing additional support over and above what is required of a fostering agency. For example, we offer 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 really stood out for me when I was looking for a fostering agency. Their commitment to care for both the foster carer and the child was head and shoulders above anyone else.”

– Foster Carer (South East London)

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We cover a wide area around Lewisham, to help support Lewisham children’s services. These areas include Catford, Brockley, Blackheath, Hither Green – and many other areas in the region.

We have a great team of staff within the Lewisham area. Christine McGillvary, our area manager for the area, is truly passionate about making a difference to children’s lives. She manages our great team of social workers in London and the South East – ensuring that our team of foster parents are fully supported. Christine has over 19 years’ experience in fostering, specifically within the charitable sector.

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

Lewisham fostering allowance

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

As a charity, we are part-funded by Lewisham Council in order to help find foster homes for young people. The actual fostering allowance you will receive will be dependant on a number of factors. For example, different fees are paid according to the type of fostering you choose to do, the number of children you care for, their age, and the complexity of their needs.

You 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

Whilst some experience of caring for a child is preferable, 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.

The initial training you will take is called Skills To Foster. This course is delivered remotely, and in the early stages of the assessment period. It will give you an insight into what fostering involves, and you can ask as many questions as you need to. You will even be able to speak directly to an existing TACT foster carer in order to fully assess whether fostering is the right choice for you.

When you become an approved foster carer, you will be allocated a full training programme to further your skills – helping you care for, and make a difference to, more children and young people.

We can also provide specialist training in order to help you care for children with specific needs or requirements, should this be something you would like to do.

24/7 support

When you become a TACT foster carer, you’re not just left on your own. We understand how important a high level of support is to our foster carers. This is why we reinvest our surplus income into providing more support for our fostering households. When you start fostering with us, you will be allocated your own Supervising Social Worker who will provide most of the support you require. All our social workers have manageable workloads, so that they are able to dedicate more time to you.

This is what we provide you:

• Full 24/7 support. Your own Supervising Social Worker will provide most of the support you need, but we also have a dedicated out-of-hours support service for total peace of mind.
• Foster carer portal. Access to 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 dedicated service will provide support and advice to help ensure that the children in your care receive the best possible educational opportunities.
• Health service. We started our Health Service in order to provide the young people in your care with ongoing health and medical care.
• Support groups. Our support groups operate all over South East London, and will provide you with a local outlet to meet other carers in your area and share experiences and knowledge. Some of our existing foster carers have also made new friends at these support groups.
• Support for young people. Our Children’s Resource Workers provide the children in your care with additional support, activities and events within Lewisham and surrounding areas.
• 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 we are able to offer peer-to-peer support. This works by pairing newly approved foster carers with experienced TACT carers to provide another level of support.

Transferring to TACT

We understand that there are occasions when foster carers from other agencies or local authorities may wish to transfer. If you are currently a foster carer in Lewisham, we can provide a ‘fast track’ application process to ensure that the transfer to us is straightforward and stress-free.

If you are looking to transfer with children already in placement, this is entirely possible – but the wellbeing of the children will always come first in all scenarios. Ensuring that stability and consistency continues for the child or young person is our priority, and something that 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 in Lewisham today, and change a child’s life. Simply fill in the form on this page to get started!