Who are we?

We are a company who specialise in Foster Care. We were set up 20 years ago by Foster Carers and are still run and managed by Foster Carers and Social Workers who believe that children in care deserve the best family life possible. Our Head Office is in Maidstone, Kent and we are currently expanding into South East London. As a family owned and run company we pride ourselves in our personal service and currently we work with 80 families who foster over 100 children. We work hard to keep our support tailored to the needs of each family

What do we do?

We recruit, prepare, assess and support FOSTER CARERS. Fostering is looking after children on behalf of their families, who may not be in a position to do so themselves. We work with Local Authorities such as Lewisham and Greenwich to provide foster homes for children and young people aged 0 – 21 in their care. Fostering can be anything from one night to permanent.

Who can foster?

Anyone over the age of 21 who is reasonably fit and healthy can foster. You need to be able to care for a child and keep them safe. Of course you will need space to do this and usually foster children need their own bedroom. Brothers and sisters under the age of 10 who are fostered together can share a room. Gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability etc. are not a bar to your applying to foster however if you have any convictions we will need to discuss these first. You may or may not have children of your own already.

What is the process?

We will arrange for one of our Foster Carers to visit you at home. If you are a couple you both need to apply together and must both want to foster. After we see you and your home we will also discuss the needs of children with you so you can better understand if fostering will work for your family. If you like us and we think we can work with you too we will ask you to apply formally and undertake a DBS (Police) Check; Health Assessment (Medical) and ask for referees to support your application. We will also invite you to a specialist training course over three days called ‘Skills to Foster' to help prepare you.
An experienced Social Worker from our agency will then work closely with you to make an assessment of what you have to offer and help you to think about the type of child that may be best suited to your family. We'll then present your report to our Fostering Panel for approval.
Once approved your Social Worker will help to identify suitable children who would be able to come and stay or live with you. For each child placed you will receive an allowance to cover the cost of care as well as payment for undertaking the role. We will continue to support you and provide training as you undertake the role. Other more experienced carers will be available to offer additional support.

Where do you cover?

We work in South East London and into west Kent. Our primary catchment areas are the boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley, Croydon, Bromley and Southwark. As well as Kent we will consider applications from people within close travelling distance of these areas.

How do I get in touch?

If you want to know more:

Call: Lisa Sutton on 01622 765646

E-mail: Lisa.Sutton@homefindingandfostering.co.uk

Tweet: @EatSleepFoster

Web: www.homefindingandfostering.co.uk