Working together to achieve the best for looked after children in the South West.
Working together to achieve the best for looked after children in the South West.
The Fostering Foundation is a small, independent and approachable agency. Within our family friendly team, we have foster carers, social workers, administrators, therapists and support staff, all working together to achieve the very best for looked after children.
We were established by Geoff Lewis , from a rented room in North London in 1999. Geoff had the ambition to develop a small, child-focused and well run fostering service where the values of best practice, compassion, and a professional approach combined in those who worked for The Foundation and those Carers who worked with The Foundation to deliver the best nurturing environment for children.
Those core values that were present in our service in 1999 are still to the fore today.
We will be with you every step of the way, offering outstanding support inclusive of training, support groups, and access to therapeutic services. We also offer an out of hours service, 365 days a year.
For all children in our care including sons and daughters, we offer regular activity groups as well as individual support. Our all inclusive ethos is what makes us different from other fostering organisations.
Our aim is to support you to make a positive difference to a child’s life
The Statement of Purpose outlines how
The Fostering Foundation functions as an Independent Fostering Agency. The statement has been developed in accordance with relevant legislation and statutory regulations. It aims to provide parents, foster carers, staff and all other professionals with information about how the agency operates and what The Fostering Foundation has to offer.
We also have available a young person’s Statement of Purpose which outlines for the children and young people what we provide as an organisation and how we can support them to achieve.
Please take a moment to download and take a read. Any questions then please do ask us.
Our dedicated cohort of approved foster carers are very much, a part of our team. Based across the South West of England, from Cornwall right the way across to Gloucestershire, they play a vital role in shaping our future as an agency. From supporting our work at Marketing events to giving us insightful feedback, our carers are the backbone of the Foundation.
– Nestled in the quaint little town of Tavistock, our head office is the hub of our central corporate functions as well as a welcoming base for our carers and staff. The social work team is made up of 5 highly experienced social workers and a team manager. They like to think outside the box to create better outcomes for young people and foster carers.
Is our newest region formed, joining the already established regions of Tavistock and Bristol. Being relatively new, the region has a small workforce consisting of an experienced Supervising Social Worker who works alongside the Registered Manager to ensure the very best support and service is available to our carers and young people.
Serving the areas of Bristol, Swindon, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, our Bristol office is located in Kingswood. The region is staffed by a team of 3 supervising social workers and a team manager, who juggle a varied caseload of specialist parent & child carers, as well as a growing cohort of carers who specialise in caring for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC).
Our Business Support team are usually the very first people you will speak to when you contact The Fostering Foundation. From our Recruitment and Placement officers to our dedicated Business administrators, you will find them well informed and always willing to help. They thrive on making sure your fostering journey starts, as we mean for it to carry on.
Our support workers and therapeutic practitioners play a crucial role in providing care and assistance to our foster carers and young people. Their expertise is vital in addressing the complex emotional and psychological needs of those in foster care, ensuring that both carers and the young individuals receive the necessary support for a stable and nurturing environment.
Dean and Marie have been approved foster carers with The Fostering Foundation since 2014. Marie had previously worked as an enabler for vulnerable children. The couple also have 2 grown up children and grandchildren. They started their fostering career with a sibling group of 2 children who were placed with them soon after their
approval at panel.
Since being foster carers they have changed their approval and now also offer either specialised parent and child assessment placements, or provide care for a young person who will remain with them until he reaches independence, although he says he’s never moving out—both fostering and parent and child assessments are equally rewarding!
Dean and Marie get a lot of joy from having young people live with them and helping them to reach their goals and aspirations. The couple describe their relationship with The Fostering Foundation as brilliant and that they have an excellent relationship with their supervising social worker.
It’s been 19 months since my husband and I were approved as foster carers in Bristol. After the assessment and panel, we were really thrilled that now we will be able to help young people and welcome them into our loving family, understanding that it may be difficult coming
into our family where we are full of love, listening, and caring for one another if they haven’t been fortunate to experience a solid strong family network.
After our first placement we realised, it certainly isn’t easy, you will be working full time, there for them 24 hours a day, and need lots of flexibility as you will be doing things you’d never expect you would be doing, but a good learning curve for us all. It is such a nice feeling to provide for a young person when they are settling and realise they are cared for and we are there to support them.
We are thoroughly enjoying our fostering experience
The Fostering Foundation was inspected by Ofsted between 21st and 24th March 2022 and the report, released on the 25th May 2022, makes note of our child-centred care, strong advocacy for children, and the peer support programmes we have launched to help support our fostering communities.