Why Foster?
Fostering a child and providing them with a loving, happy, and stable home is a truly rewarding experience. With the number of children coming into care increasing for a variety of reasons, there has never been a more important time to act. You can make a real difference in a child’s life by offering them a safe and supportive environment, helping them to thrive and reach their full potential. Choosing to foster means offering hope and a brighter future to a child or young person in the North East.
"Being a foster parent has changed my life for the better in ways I never imagined, and I'm grateful to be a part of their journey towards a brighter future."
Susan, foster parent
The Rewards and Importance of Fostering
Foster parents often describe fostering as deeply rewarding. It brings joy, happiness, and a sense of fulfillment, while also offering an opportunity to use and grow your skills. Like many meaningful things in life, fostering can be challenging, but the rewards far outweigh the effort.
Children and young people need stable, loving foster homes, and the demand continues to grow.
Why Children Need Foster Care
Children enter foster care for many reasons. Some have parents who are ill or have passed away, while others have experienced abuse or neglect. Regardless of the circumstances, every child in care needs a safe, nurturing home.
Many children face the trauma of being separated from their birth family, which can make adjusting to a new home difficult. That’s where our therapeutic training and support come in. We provide the tools and guidance you need to understand how a child’s experiences shape their feelings and behaviors and how to respond effectively. You’ll also be supported by our knowledgeable staff and experienced foster parents who mentor and guide you along the way.
The Growing Need for Foster Homes
The number of children entering care is increasing due to a range of factors, including poverty, parental substance use, domestic violence, and mental health challenges. This growing need has created additional challenges:
Some children are placed far from their communities, away from friends and family, even though staying close to these relationships is often best for them.
Siblings are sometimes separated because there aren’t enough foster homes able to take them in together.
How You Can Make a Difference
There has never been a more critical time to step up and help. By opening your heart and home, you can create a safe and supportive environment for children and young people who have faced difficult circumstances. Your care can provide stability, healing and hope and it can truly change lives.
You have the power to make a lasting difference.
Change a child’s life
There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a young person develop their self-belief, set goals and achieve them. The joy and happiness they experience as they learn new skills and grow in confidence will support you through the worthwhile challenge of fostering.
Build your knowledge and grow personally
Fostering is professional parenting. As a super parent, you’ll develop your skills and talents through the therapeutic training and other training that we offer. Sometimes, this will be instead of a ‘normal career’. You will learn far more about yourself and other people by fostering than you will in almost any other walk of life. You’ll understand how children and adults think and behave, why, and how best to help and support them. Over time, you might want to develop your skills through higher-level training.
Financial income and other support
Fostering can give you a good income that reflects the skills and commitment you need to be a super parent. Fostering requires dedication, time, effort and, of course, money. To reflect the skills and commitment needed to be a foster parent, we offer competitive fees that recognise the value of your role in shaping a child’s future. These often pay enough for you to foster full-time.
Up to £543 per week per child to take financial pressure out of fostering. You can learn more about our fees and support here.
Because you value relationships and community
Fostering allows you to build meaningful connections and relationships with children, birth families, and everyone involved at Changing Futures Fostering.
You become part of a supportive community, sharing experiences and learning from others who are passionate about making a difference. The bonds formed through fostering can be lifelong and provide a sense of belonging and purpose. We have regular group training and group activities for foster parents and children.
Interested in starting your fostering journey, or want to know more about fostering with Changing Futures Fostering? Please click here to contact us, and we’re happy to answer any questions you may have.