Swansea Council’s fostering service is seeking carers for a new multi-agency fostering scheme for children whose behaviour means they need specialised help.
As part of its Make a World of Difference and Foster campaign, Foster Swansea is not only looking for general foster carers but also for families that could take part in therapeutic fostering.
Therapeutic Fostering aims to improve services for looked-after children who exhibit challenging and difficult behaviour.
Therapeutic Foster Carers will have a multi-agency team to support them to care for an individual young person for six months to two years.
They will have support and access to a team of Health Therapy professionals led by a consultant clinical psychologist and will receive additional support from an allocated support worker to secure access to education.
Therapeutic Foster Carers will also receive an enhanced fostering allowance and ongoing training and support from Foster Swansea- a Local Authority service with over 40 years experience
Kelly Harsant, Foster Swansea Business Development Officer, said: “With a rise of 39% in the population of looked-after children in Swansea in the past year, Foster Swansea’s Make a World of Difference and Foster campaign is about attracting a whole range of foster carers for children with a wide variety of needs.
“We’re delighted to also take the opportunity during this campaign to recruit carers for our exciting new Therapeutic Foster Carer scheme for young people who have particularly challenging and difficult behaviour.
“We have great hopes for this scheme which will see Therapeutic Foster Carers supported by a multi-agency team including health and education specialists.
“To be a Therapeutic Foster Carer you must live in the Swansea area and have the experience, qualifications or capability to care for young people who exhibit challenging and difficult behaviour. ”
Anyone interested in Therapeutic Fostering or other types of fostering should contact Foster Swansea by calling 01792 533200.
People can also visit the Foster Swansea trailer which will be situated in Swansea City Centre in front of Marks and Spencer from Monday May 24 to Friday May 28 to talk to a member of staff.
Further details are available on the Foster Swansea website at http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=22592?Lang=eng
