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A collaborative service for:
Cheshire East Council Cheshire West and Chester Halton Borough Council Knowsley Council Liverpool Council St Helens Council Warrington Borough Council Wiral Council
A collaborative service for:
Cheshire East Council Cheshire West and Chester Halton Borough Council Warrington Borough Council
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Why Warrington?

By fostering with Warrington Borough Council, you’ll be making a difference to the most vulnerable children and young people from your local area.

Foster carers work in partnership with the team around the child in their care, and by becoming a foster carer with Warrington you’ll benefit from working directly with this team, including the child’s Social Worker, education and health professionals, resulting in better communication, support and outcomes for our children.

In Warrington we pride ourselves on the support that’s offered to both our foster carers and the children they care for. From the Multi-agency Support Hub (MASH) and Independent Review Service based within our offices, to our monthly Fostering Managers Drop-in Clinics and Foster Carers Forum, we offer support that is both practical and emotional, to ensure you’re well equipped to undertake the fostering role and know you’re never on your own.

Read Our Stories
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Read Our Stories
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The best thing about fostering for Warrington Borough Council is the access to local resources and support systems, which allow young people to maintain their identity and connections in their local area and enables carers to forge strong, local links.

Vickie, Warrington Borough Council Foster Carer

Benefits

Being a Foster Carer is hugely rewarding on many levels, but it also takes lots of practical provision to make it possible. We are very proud of the role our foster carers play and in recognition of this we provide an extensive package of benefits and rewards.

We offer:

Trips & Transport

ID Badges

Activity Days

Social Media

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Events

Matching Ceremonies

Progress and development

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Equipment

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Support

Our committed support is evidenced by our strong professional relationships with our foster carers and high retention rate. We have many carers who have been with us for 10, 20, 30, even 40+ years! We offer support that is both practical and emotional, to ensure you’re well equipped to undertake the fostering role, and know you’re never on your own.

Social Work Support

We offer:

  • Your own dedicated Fostering Social Worker, who will come and see you regularly to ensure your wellbeing, celebrate your successes and work through any concerns They’re also available via telephone, email and to meet in between visits as required. They’ll undertake a more formal ‘supervision’ with you a minimum of 6 times per year.
  • A worker on duty in the fostering team all day, every day during office hours.
  • A 24/7 out-of-hours emergency support, staffed by Warrington Borough Council Social Workers.
  • An Independent Review service, made up of a team of Independent Reviewing Officers, including the fostering Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO). The service oversees the experience of the children and young people and hold our service to account on their behalf.
  • In addition, the child or young person living in your family will also have their own Social Worker to support them.
  • An active Foster Carers Forum, which we hold every few months. This is another opportunity to input to the development of the service. We often have guest speakers to further inform you of the support you can access.
  • Monthly drop in clinics with the Fostering Managers. An opportunity for you to meet face-to-face and discuss your experiences.
  • Systemic Practice- Warrington now utilise this relationship-based model throughout Children’s Social Care. This means stronger relationships and fewer ‘hand-overs’- children and young people can stay with their Social Worker for longer.
  • As a Foster Carer, you will have the same Fostering Social Worker as a number of other carers. You will all have an opportunity to meet together regularly, in ‘team meetings’. We can invite speakers to these meetings, discussing topics that are relevant to you as a specific group of carers, tailoring the sessions to your bespoke needs and interests.
  • Each new carer is linked with a Carer-Mentor – an experienced foster carer to act as a ‘buddy ’ allocated to you during your assessment to support you through the early stages of your fostering career and beyond.
  • Manager recognition cards – We regularly send out ‘Thank you’ or ‘Well Done’ post cards to carers who have gone above and beyond, perhaps supporting a child through a particularly difficult transition, or achieving a personal development milestone for example – a simple way to ensure you continue to feel valued.

Partner services

We offer:

As the Local Authority, we have a huge range of internal and external partner services. We also have a Multi-Agency Support Hub(MASH), based within our offices, which is made up of a team of professionals who support our children in care, beyond social work. These include:

  • The Police.
  • The Virtual School - who oversee the attainment and wellbeing of all children in care.
  • Health - each child has their own named Child in Care Nurse, who undertake their medicals.

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