Fostering in Stockport can help change children’s lives. Whether you are new to the idea of foster care, or have been considering it for a while, we have all the information you need for you to start your journey.

How do I start fostering in Stockport?

To begin fostering in Stockport, you don’t need any previous childcare qualifications as full and ongoing training will be provided. However, some experience of caring for children is preferred.

Before a fostering application can commence, we would need to check the following with you:

• That you are aged 21 years or over
• You have at least one spare bedroom in your home
• You are a full time resident of the UK

If you fulfil all three points above, we would like to talk to you about fostering. You can complete the enquiry form on this page today to get started.

TACT North West carer Karen, from Greater Manchester, discusses below why she chose to foster with TACT and what she loves about being a foster carer.

 

Why foster in Stockport 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 help support Stockport Council by providing nurturing and caring foster homes. Our charitable status enables us to reinvest in more support and training for our team of foster carers. For example, some of our additional support offerings include an Education Service, Health Service, and an online foster carer portal. Our TACT Connect community ensures that our care-experienced young people continue to receive support into adulthood and beyond.

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

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“Support through TACT has been fantastic. With TACT, you’re not on your own: you’re part of a community and you have professionals on hand to help. Our social worker has gone above and beyond to help us.”

– Alice & James, TACT Foster Carers (North West)

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We cover a wide area in and around Stockport, including Bredbury, Marple, Hazel Grove and Romiley.

We have a great team of staff within the Stockport area. Jon Broadhurst, our Area Manager for the region, is truly passionate about making a difference to children’s lives. He manages our great team of social workers – ensuring that our team of foster parents are fully supported. Jon has over 28 years’ experience in social work, with 17 years’ experience specifically in the charitable sector.

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

Stockport Fostering allowance

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

When you join our Fostering Stockport team, you are paid an allowance – the actual total of which is dependent on the type of fostering undertaken, the number of children cared for, their age and complexity of their needs.

Our foster carers also receive additional payments for children’s birthdays, holidays and religious festivals. In addition to the 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 caring for young people:

 

Full training

As previously mentioned, you don’t need to have taken any training prior to making a fostering application. Our full and ongoing training programme will ensure that you are fully prepared to provide care for young people.

You will take your first course early in the foster carer application and assessment period. This training is called Skills To Foster, and its function is to provide enough information for you to decide if fostering is still the right path for you. Delivered remotely along with other fostering applicants, you will be able to ask as many questions as you like.

Once you become an approved foster carer, you will be allocated a full training programme to further your skills. This will provide you with the necessary skills and knowledge to help you care for, and make a difference to, more children and young people. Some training will be delivered remotely, whilst other courses will be face-to-face.

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

24/7 support

24/7 support is paramount, so you will be allocated your own Supervising Social Worker, who will provide most of the support you will require.

For total peace of mind, we also have a dedicated out-of-hours support service. We also provide some additional support networks and platforms. After all, the better we support you, the better you will be able to provide the care and guidance required to help change children’s lives.

This is what we provide:

• Full 24/7 support. Your Supervising Social Worker will provide day-to-day support, 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.
• 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 in Stockport and surrounding areas, providing you with a local outlet to meet other carers in your area, and share experiences and knowledge.
• Support for young people. Our Engagement & Activity Practitioners provide the children in your care with additional support, activities and events in Stockport.
• 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

If you currently foster in Stockport, and you are looking to transfer from your current fostering provider, we can provide a ‘fast track’ application process to ensure that the transfer to us is straightforward and stress-free.

You can transfer to us with young people already placed with you, but we would just need to ensure that the best interests of the child(ren) come first. We would work closely with you and your existing fostering provider.

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