Becoming a foster carer can change young people’s lives. Unfortunately, many children in the London Borough of Newham urgently require supportive and caring foster homes, so if becoming a foster carer is something you have been considering, now would be a great time to start your fostering journey. You could join our Fostering Newham team!

The role of a foster carer is to provide a stable, nurturing and caring home for vulnerable children. There are many different types of foster care that you can provide, and our enquiry officers will be able to talk you through the best options to suit you and your household.

Fostering is highly rewarding. Many of our current foster carers have shared the most amazing stories of how they’ve helped empower young people in their care to turn their own lives around.

How do I start?

Before you make a fostering application, you will need:

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

You don’t need any childcare qualifications, as full and ongoing training will be provided. However we do ask that applicants have some form of experience caring for a child.

As we are a charity, we reinvest surplus income into providing more training for our fostering households.

By joining our Fostering Newham team, you could help change young people’s lives in your local area.

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 Newham with TACT?

TACT is the UK’s largest dedicated fostering charity. We have been providing nurturing and caring homes for vulnerable young people since 1993.

We work closely with Newham Council to help provide ‘matched’ foster homes for children and young people. We are a charity, so we do not ‘profit’ from foster care. Instead, our surplus income is reinvested into providing more support and training, ensuring that our Newham Fostering team are fully supported and have the knowledge they need to make a difference to children’s lives.

We also provide a number of unique additional support resources, such as a dedicated Education Service, Health Service – and an online foster carer portal. Our TACT Connect service ensures that when children leave the care system, they have TACT’s support into adulthood.

This is why 98% of our carers would recommend us to others thinking of fostering.

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“We had been given so much training, support and advice from TACT, as well as guidance from other TACT foster carers. We found the application to foster process very simple.”

– TACT Foster Carer

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We cover a wide area in and around the London Borough of Newham, including East Ham, West Ham, Stratford, Plaistow, Forest Gate, Beckton and Canning Town.

We have a great team of staff who provide support to our foster carers in the Borough of Newham. Priscilla Makambe, our area manager for the area, started working for TACT in 2019. Priscilla previously worked in Local Authority Child Protection and Children with Disabilities Teams before moving into fostering more than 15 years ago.

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

Newham Fostering Allowances

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

The fostering allowance is made up of two elements:

• An allowance for each young person in your care: this will cover any expenses incurred for a young person such as food, clothing and any travel you may have to do.
• A foster carer fee: this is your fee, for your skill and knowledge when caring for young people in your home.

The actual allowance you will receive is dependent on a number of factors such as the type of foster care you are providing, the number of children in your care, their age, and the complexity of their needs.

There are also additional payments for children’s birthdays, holidays and religious festivals. 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 Newham fostering allowances you could expect to receive when you have a young person placed with you:

 

Full training

As mentioned earlier, no previous training is required as we will provide you with full and ongoing training.

Your first training, called Skills To Foster, will occur early in the fostering application period. Delivered remotely by one of our dedicated trainers, it is designed to provide an early introduction to fostering. The course will be attended by other applicants, providing a valuable opportunity to share thoughts and ask questions. The sessions are co-hosted by an existing TACT foster carer, who will provide additional insight.

If you become an approved TACT foster carer, you will be allocated a full training programme to help you further your skills. This will enable you to 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 requirements or needs.

24/7 support

As a TACT foster carer, 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, which enables them to devote more time to you. Additionally, we provide a dedicated out-of-hours support service for total peace of mind.

We understand that being properly supported as a foster carer is one of the most important factors in deciding on a fostering agency.

Our charitable status means that we can reinvest surplus income into providing additional support platforms, some of which are unique to TACT. 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. Provided by your Supervising Social Worker and our out-of-hours support service.
• Foster carer portal. An online information hub that provides advice and training to help with your day-to-day life as a foster carer.
• Education service. Ensures that all young people in your care receive the educational opportunities they are entitled to.
• 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 in Newham and the surrounding areas, 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

There are many reasons why current foster carers may wish to transfer from their local authority or agency. If you are currently a foster carer in Newham, we can provide a ‘fast track’ application process to ensure that the transfer to us is straightforward and stress-free. You would also not be required to re-take the Skills To Foster course.

Transferring to us with children already in placement is totally possible, but we would just need to ensure that the wellbeing of the child(ren) comes first. We would work closely with you and your existing fostering provider to ensure a smooth transition and continuity of care.

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