Cambridgeshire County Council has launched an urgent appeal to encourage residents to consider becoming Foster Carers.
Like many fostering agencies, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fostering Service has experienced a decrease in public interest in fostering since the beginning of March 2022, despite the need to find homes for local children and young people remaining high.
In Cambridgeshire, the service has an immediate need to find homes for over 10 young people, including teenagers, sets of brothers and sisters, and children with additional needs ranging from physical disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy to learning or developmental needs.
The Fostering Service is currently running a digital campaign, ‘#ChildrenAtTheHeart’, across social media which focuses on how children are at the heart of everything they do. The campaign hopes to encourage people to consider fostering for the local authority, and to provide excellent support to its Foster Carers by way of regular training and access to experienced Supervising Social Workers.
There are many different ways you can foster for your local authority to meet the different needs of Cambridgeshire children and young people and to suit different lifestyles. From long-term fostering to Link Care for as little of a couple of weekends a month. We can help find the best care option that works around you.
We spoke to a Cambridgeshire Foster Carer about what fostering meant to them:
“Fostering is opening up your home, your heart and your whole life to a child in need. Children often arrive with us scared and withdrawn, but as we care for them, provide for them, and love them, they start to open up, show their real selves, and thrive.
“We help them grow in every way we can, and the hurts of the past begin to heal. Being a part of that transformation is what makes fostering so rewarding.”
Both Cambridgeshire County and Peterborough City Council are urging local people to come forward to support us to do what we do best: changing the lives of children and young people in care.
Councillor Bryony Goodliffe, Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Children and Young People’s Committee, said: “Our children and young people are at the heart of everything that we do, and it is so important for us to be able to provide them with the stability, reassurance, and the love of a local family.
“Foster Carers offer a home where children and young people can build confidence, they nurture and are there for those important parts in their lives. We need our community to come forward and support those who need that support more than ever.”
When you foster for your local authority, we will provide you with:
- Local training and development close to you.
- Generous pay and benefits including a startup package.
- 24/7 support from a Supervising Social Worker as well as an amazing first year next steps training programme.
- Local support groups with other Foster Carers and peer mentoring.
To become a Foster Carer, you must be over 21, have a spare bedroom, and be willing and able to provide a stable, loving environment in which a child or young person can thrive. If this is you, please get in touch.
- Visit: cambridgeshire.gov.uk/fostering
- Email: fostering@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
- Call: 0800 052 0078
