Foster Carers Needed

Every year, tens of thousands of children across the UK need foster carers because they can’t live with their own families, so every year, there are thousands of new foster carers needed. To put this into context, over 7,000 new foster families will be required over the next 12 months alone to care for a range of children; with the greatest need being foster carers for older children, sibling groups and disabled children.

Fostering at the Acorns

Here at the Acorns we are passionate about the difference that our foster carers make to the lives of our fostered children and young people. We know that foster care doesn’t just transform the lives of the young people who are fostered; it also has the power to change the lives of foster carers, their families and all those involved in fostering too.

When you foster with Acorn Care you become part of our family and it’s our aim to provide what every good family should – love, support and a framework of values to each of its members.

Family Values

Families that define themselves as “strong” commonly say they love each other, find life together satisfying, and live in happiness and harmony with each other. Placing a foster child at the centre of this “loving” environment, surrounded by a strong, supportive family, gives them the firm foundations they need to thrive and to reach their full potential. That security and having someone to count on and who shares your problems is important to everyone, but is especially to someone who may have come from an environment where they haven’t experienced it previously. That same feeling of security is extended to our foster carers by our small, but perfectly formed, experienced internal team. Our excellent training programme ensures that you can work with children and young people competently and confidently to build their self-esteem and help them to re-establish their trust in adults. We are passionate about placement stability and know that well-trained and supported foster carers have the most successful outcomes. Further, so that carers don’t worry about learning new skills, our training courses do not have a “pass” requirement. We trust our carers to take from them exactly what they need to deliver the desired outcome for them and us.

Family strengths are those relationship qualities that also contribute to the emotional health and well-being of the family. Our foster carers are rewarded well financially for the role they do and on top of this, we also offer additional ‘incentives’, for example a £460 holiday allowance to Acorn carers who take foster children on holiday with them. Plus, in the past year, there have also been lots of little excursions encouraged too like tickets for the Panto at Christmas, Family Cinema tickets at Easter and, this summer, a family pass to Beamish all provided to foster families by Acorn Care and all of which helps further develop strong family bonds and emotional health and well-being for everyone concerned.

Our family values also extend to our respect for each other and the responsibility for the roles we undertake. Because our foster carers are very much an integral part of the team, we promote our foster families to participate in the company’s overall direction too. We hold regular supervision groups and encourage free and open dialogue and consultation.

Being part of a family is important. If you’d like to be part of ours and foster at the Acorns then get in touch. You’ll need to be over 21 with a spare room in your home and plenty of room in your heart. If that’s you, let us know because there are children our there that need you.