Foster carers in Chelmsford, Essex receive locally-delivered training, 24/7 support, peer support, and the opportunity to be the best you can be in your role. There are many children and young people who need fostering. Can you help?
If you’re considering becoming a foster carer in Chelmsford, choose to work with a fostering agency that has local teams who will be with you every step.
National Fostering Group is the largest independent fostering agency in the UK with superb agency coverage across all regions – meaning you have the support of a team close to you.
We are the leading fostering agency in the UK and work in partnership with the local authority to place children and young people in homes where they can thrive.
As a foster carer for the National Fostering Group, you’ll have unparalleled access to professional support and excellent free training in your local area. We want you to thrive too, being the best you can be in your role as foster carer.
In addition, you’ll have access to a large and active peer network that includes 34 local support groups.
Brighter Futures offers comprehensive fostering support, spanning from Peterborough to the south coast. With a focus on diversity, the agency collaborates with over 50 foster carers, caring for 90 children and two parent-child placements. Despite its small size, Brighter Futures receives referrals nationwide, working with 52 local authorities.
Rated ‘GOOD’ by Ofsted, the agency guides potential foster carers through the process, emphasizing the goal of providing vulnerable children with caring, supportive homes for a brighter future.
Our average foster carer pay is around £24,500 a year (£2,040 on average per month), which is far higher than the government’s recommended weekly allowance. For most foster carers in Chelmsford, this will be tax free! Some types of fostering placement pay more than £35,000 a year. Foster carer pay doesn’t affect state benefits you’re currently receiving.
I love having teenagers. You can have banter with them, sometimes they open up and you can talk things through with them about their past and future. Sometimes it’s possible to use humour to diffuse a situation. I tried that with one of teenage girls we had who was a runaway. She sulked all night but she didn’t run away after that. Later she told people that this was the only place she’s been truly loved.
Around 7,230 children live with a foster family in the South East. There are approximately 45,370 fostering households and 76,640 foster carers in England.
Sources: Department for Education, Ofsted
If you think you’d like to become a foster carer in Chelmsford, your next step is to have a chat. You can book a call by using our enquiry form. After this, if you decide to go ahead with an application, this usually takes around 16 weeks and we’ll help you every step of the way. We’ll help you decide what types of fostering you want to do and we’ll even get you started with foster carer training.
We are looking for foster carers in Chelmsford. We welcome people from ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds, physical abilities and the LGBT+ community. You can be single, married, a homeowner or a tenant. Your ability to care for and nurture a child is what really matters. If you’ve worked in sectors like education, the emergency services, care or healthcare, you’ll be especially suited to this role.
Our foster carers come from all walks of life. With training, support and a generous fostering allowance, they provide homes where children can thrive and experience the childhood they deserve.
More than 8,000 new foster carers are needed UK-wide to provide homes for children in need of a foster family. If you’re thinking of becoming a foster carer, now’s the time.
Source: The Fostering Network
Our foster carers are inspiring. The carers I work with never shy away from any situation and their dedication and passion to support these children is admirable.
It is vital I am there for our carers any time they need me, I will always be on the end of the phone or at their door, anything they need. We all work together as one big family and I very much enjoy getting to know our foster carers and supporting them throughout their fostering journey.
Scores of children are currently fostered or waiting to find foster parents in the Chelmsford area and Essex as a whole.
National Fostering Group’s Brighter Futures team covers Basildon, Brentwood, Rayleigh, Maldon, Witham, Broomfield and Brentwood.