At Fostering Solutions Oundle we have a dedicated member of our team that is on hand to support with recruitment of foster carers and to continue with that support throughout carers journey. Our agency recognises the importance of having this role to support our applicants through their journey into fostering and beyond!
Hi I’m Rose and I am the carer engagement officer for Fostering Solutions Oundle. I have been with the team since November 2017.I have been married for 6 years to my husband Lee and together we have a very cheeky two year old and Bastille our family dog! I have been a foster carer and went on to adopt our little boy so have been through the same assessment as all our foster carers! (Don’t worry it’s not too bad!) Prior to working at Fostering Solutions I worked within the sure start children’s centre for 8 years in many different roles, including family support worker, children’s worker and children’s centre manager. During this time I worked with families who were on a child protection plan, child in need or those that needed a specific piece of work around parenting. After our son came into our lives I decided that I wanted to do something different to support children and having the experience of fostering and adopting led me to this role
My role of carer engagement officer is made up of two main elements;
We are always looking for new foster carers to join our fostering family and my role is to plan and attend events to raise awareness of this– this may be going along to a summer fayre, meet up at costa coffee or being a market trader for the day! As foster carers we also know that you are a great judge of character on who would make a good foster carer – therefore we love a carer referral! My role would be to make contact with the enquirer and find out more about them and to support them into their fostering journey. Don’t forget that under the new ‘recommend us’ scheme you can earn £1500 for each referral that goes on to be approved at panel !
This part of my role is to continue to support not only new carers but ALL of our carers. This may be with a yoga session, lunch out or providing extra support groups in your local areas. When I started my role I also started a new scheme called ‘Everyday Hero’. Each month we will award at least one of our fostering households the award of Everyday Hero. This is just a little thank you for what you do in our role as foster carers. I am also the face behind our Facebook page – this is a great platform to learn more about fostering and updates on any relevant stories and updates on child development and attachment.
If you are interested in finding out more on Fostering or to ‘recommend us’ get in touch today by emailing [email protected] or by completing our form.