Fostering People Targets Foster Carer Recruitment During Foster Care Fortnight 2011

Fostering People will be holding a range of open days during Foster Care Fortnight 2011 to complement the agency’s ongoing foster carer recruitment campaign.

The Independent Fostering Agency, based in Nottingham, East Midlands, will stage the open days at its Head Office on Pavilion Road, Nottingham during the two weeks of Foster Care Fortnight 2011 (16th to 29th May 2011). The open days are being held on 18th and 25th May 2011. They will complement the agency’s existing and ongoing carer recruitment activities across the Midlands, Yorkshire, the North West and the North East of England.

Fostering People open days provide an opportunity for existing foster carers to share their experiences and for prospective foster carers to ask Fostering People staff and former carers about fostering and what’s entailed in becoming a foster carer. Tea and coffee will be served as attendees take the opportunity to read through Fostering People’s literature and discuss their fostering ambitions.

Foster Care Fortnight 2011, an initiative from the Fostering Network, will work under the theme of ‘time to care’. It is expected to provide Fostering People with a boost in applications from prospective foster carers through such initiatives as these information events and through an increased level of traffic to the organisation’s carer recruitment website. Foster Care Fortnight 2011 is expected to perform a vital role in raising awareness of fostering and addressing the shortfall of up to 10,000 foster carers across the UK.

Melissa Miller, Marketing Officer at Fostering People, describes the importance of Foster Care Fortnight 2011 in the agency’s ongoing foster carer recruitment campaign: “On an annual basis, Foster Care Fortnight really helps to raise awareness of the need for foster carers across the UK.

Via EPR Network
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Foster Care Associates Receives Leading Aspect Award

Foster Care Associates (FCA) has received the Leading Aspect Award for empowering staff and foster carers to drive up educational standards for looked after children and young people.

The Leading Aspect Award is a self-evaluation framework designed to judge the support of educational welfare within an organisation. FCA has received positive results based on criteria such as commitment to quality, teaching and learning, sharing good practice, and disseminating innovation.

The agency has proved particularly successful in empowering foster carers and staff to narrow the attainment gap for educational achievement for looked after children and young people.

As an integral part of FCA’s Team Parenting approach to foster care, education is considered important in increasing stability within a fostering placement and enhancing the future outcomes of looked after children and young people. Encouraging educational achievement is therefore considered a high priority for the agency and its foster carers.

Julie Archer, Head of Education at FCA, has welcomed the Award, stating that the recognition means a lot for the agency: “Achieving the Leading Aspect Award for FCA is important as it confirms that the strategies we use are effective in improving the outcomes of the children and young people placed with us. At FCA we have a commitment to ensure all children and young people placed with our foster carers receive an appropriate education. Education is paramount to stability within a foster placement and to enhance the life chances of children.

“Our Education Service works to identify and secure appropriate education provision by engaging with staff from schools and other agencies and working with foster carers to support the young people. In addition we also provide direct support to the children and young people wherever appropriate.

“Sharing this practice through the Leading Aspect Award heightens the awareness of the issues for looked after children all over the UK and, in particular, the importance of putting strategies in place to support children and young people to reach their educational potential.”

Throughout the UK there is a shortfall of around 10,000 foster carers. As the UK’s leading Independent Fostering Agency, FCA is seeking to address this shortage through a nationwide foster carer recruitment campaign and a fully integrated marketing approach. FCA seeks to raise awareness of fostering as a career, and the importance of supporting looked after children in education, in order to help improve the outcomes of young people in foster care across the UK.

Via EPR Network
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