Join our dedicated Fostering Shrewsbury team of foster carers, and make a real difference to children’s lives in your local area.

Whether you are new to the idea of fostering, or have been considering it for a while, we have all the information you need for you to start your journey.

How do I start fostering in Shrewsbury?

To begin fostering in Shrewsbury, no previous childcare qualifications are required, as we provide full and ongoing training. However, we do ask for some experience of caring for children.

There is also some initial criteria to fulfil. Fostering regulations state that you must:

• Be aged 21 years or over
• Have at least one spare bedroom in your home
• Be a full time resident of the UK

If you fulfil all three points above, we would like to talk to you today about fostering. You can complete the enquiry form on this page today to get started.

Watch Samantha, one of our West Midlands foster carers, talk about what it is like to be a TACT foster carer:

 

Why foster in Shrewsbury with TACT?

TACT is the UK’s largest dedicated fostering charity. We have been providing nurturing and caring homes for vulnerable young people since 1993.

Working closely with Shropshire Council, we help provide caring and nurturing foster homes. In particular, our work with the Council includes supporting their Stepping Stones programme, which focuses on young people who are transitioning from residential care into fostering environments. This is achieved using a range of support techniques and therapeutic approaches. The process is fully by the young person.

Additionally, our charitable status means that we reinvest in more support and training for our Fostering Shrewsbury team. This has enabled us to develop some unique additional services, over and above what is expected of a fostering organisation. These include an Education Service, Health Service, and an online foster carer portal. Our TACT Connect community ensures that our care-experienced young people continue to receive our support into adulthood and beyond.

This is why 98% of our carers would recommend us to others thinking of fostering.

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“TACT offer 360 degree, 365 day support and have done for the 14 years that we have been with them. The support is immediate, kind, reassuring, thorough, none-judgmental and everyone in the household is looked after.”

– Alex, TACT Foster Carer (Shropshire)

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We cover a wide area in and around Shrewsbury, including Coton Hill, Shelton, Underdale and Coleham.

We have a great team of staff within the Shrewsbury area. Michelle Patterson, our area manager for the West Midlands, is truly passionate about making a difference to children’s lives. She manages our great team of social workers in the area – ensuring that our team of foster carers are fully supported. Michelle has been with TACT for over 12 years’, and has previously worked for other not-for-profit fostering agencies.

We provide our foster parents in Shrewsbury with full training, 24/7 support and a generous fostering allowance:

Shrewsbury Fostering allowance

Foster carers are highly skilled people, and our fees and allowances reflect this.

Our Fostering Shrewsbury team of foster carers are paid an allowance – the actual total of which is dependent on the type of fostering undertaken, the number of children cared for, their age and complexity of their needs.

Our foster carers also receive additional payments for children’s birthdays, holidays and religious festivals. In addition to the fostering allowance, we also pay long service awards and a Refer a Friend fee (if you recommend someone who then goes on to be an approved foster carer with us).

Here are some examples of the weekly allowances you could expect to receive when caring for young people:

 

Full training

As mentioned previously, you don’t need any training to make a fostering application. Our full and ongoing training programme will ensure that you are fully prepared to care for children in your home.

The first course you will take is called Skills To Foster, and is delivered early in the fostering application and assessment period. This is to provide you with enough information for you to decide if fostering is still the right path for you. Delivered remotely, and with other fostering applicants taking part, you will be able to ask as many questions as you like.

Once you become an approved foster carer, you will be allocated a full training programme to further your skills. This will provide you with the necessary skills and knowledge to help you care for, and make a difference to, more children and young people. Some training will be delivered remotely, whilst other courses will be face-to-face.

We even provide specialist training in order to help you care for children with specific needs or requirements.

24/7 support

Providing our foster carers with full 24/7 support is paramount.  You will be allocated your own Supervising Social Worker, who will provide most of the support you will require.

We also have a dedicated out-of-hours support service, for total peace of mind. We also provide some additional support networks and platforms. After all, the better we support you, the better you will be able to provide the care and guidance required to help change children’s lives.

This is what we provide:

• Full 24/7 support. Your Supervising Social Worker will provide day-to-day support, but we also have a dedicated out-of-hours support service for total peace of mind.
• Foster carer portal. An online community of TACT foster carers and a place to find information, advice, training and other resources.
• Education service. Our specialist service provides support and advice to help ensure that the children in your care receive the best possible educational opportunities.
• Health service. Our health service was established in order to provide young people in your care with ongoing physical and mental health monitoring.
• Support groups. Our support groups operate in Shrewsbury and surrounding areas, providing you with a local outlet to meet other carers in your area, and share experiences and knowledge.
• Support for young people. Our Engagement & Activity Practitioners provide the children in your care with additional support, activities and events in Shrewsbury.
• Supporting your own children. We understand that your own children play an important role in the fostering household. As such, our Children Who Foster events provide your own children with an opportunity to socialise with other young people who make an amazing contribution to fostering.
• Peer support. Sometimes, peer-to-peer support may be available. These work by pairing newly approved foster carers with experienced TACT carers to provide another level of support.

Transferring to TACT

If you currently foster in Shrewsbury, and you are looking to transfer from your current fostering provider, we can provide a ‘fast track’ application process to ensure that the transfer to us is straightforward and stress-free.

You can transfer to us with young people already placed with you, but we would just need to ensure that the best interests of the child(ren) come first. We would work closely with you and your existing fostering provider.

If you are interested in finding out more about transferring to us, simply select ‘I am currently a foster carer‘ on our form. We will then be able to talk you through the process in more detail.

A fostering charity that goes above and beyond…

• Our foster carer perks include a number of exclusive memberships and special offers – many of which are available via our Foster Carer Portal.
• Our TACT Connect service ensures that our care leavers continue to receive help, support and guidance even after they have officially left our care.
• We advocate for young people, actively campaigning in order to instigate positive change within the care system.

Start your fostering journey in Shrewsbury today, and change a child’s life. Simply fill in the form on this page to get started!