At The Foster Care Co-operative, you will receive full training, 24/7 support, respite care and a professional carer fee…
How much you will be paid
Foster carers receive a professional carer fee. You are paid this fee when a child or young person is placed with you. The fee amount is dependent on the age of the child/children – along with their assessed needs and requirements. The payments highlighted below are for guidance only.
One Child
Up to £400 per week
£23,000 of your fee per annum is TAX FREE.
You are also entitled to respite breaks.
One Child (solo)
Up to £800 per week
£23,000 of your fee per annum is TAX FREE.
You are also entitled to respite breaks.
Two children
Up to £800 per week
£36,000 of your fee per annum is TAX FREE.
You are also entitled to respite breaks.
Parent & Child
£649 per week (1 parent & 1 child)
£20,400 of your fee per annum is TAX FREE.
You are also entitled to respite breaks.
Full Training
Full and extensive training is at the heart of what we do. As a not-for-profit agency, we ensure that any surplus income after expenses is ploughed straight back into providing more training for our foster carers, which is free and which you can claim travel expenses for.
As a new foster carer applicant, you will need to undergo a residential training course called ‘Skills to Foster’. This course will take place at our Head Office in Malvern, Worcestershire. Full accommodation and expenses will be provided. This course provides an overview of fostering, including safer caring and how children form attachments. The course is delivered by social workers and current foster carers of The Foster Care Co-operative.
There are further mandatory courses, but there are also optional courses available to extend your skill set.
24/7 support
You will receive full 24/7 support from The Foster Care Co-operative. We have an out of hours service and you will have your own social worker during working hours, so you will never be on your own.
We don’t believe in overloading our staff, so social worker’s caseloads are low, enabling us to provide high quality support to you as foster carers. We appreciate how important it is to have the same dedicated social worker with you every step of the way. Our low staff turnover helps us achieve this.
Your social worker will work closely with you, both on your initial application to foster and in order to provide you with ongoing support, including monthly visits. These visits will give you the opportunity to talk openly about any concerns you may have, and how best we can continue to support you.
Support groups
It is extremely important for foster carers to be able to talk to each other. Our support group calendar provides an opportunity for carers in a particular area to come together and share their experiences and knowledge. As a co-operative agency, we also value your feedback on any part of the service or support we provide you.
Support groups are hosted by both social workers and our executive team and are held in external venues within a particular region of the country. Refreshments and travel expenses are provided.