Life in Salford 35 • November 2021 7
Photo posed by models pre-pandemic.
Join Salford’s foster family Fostering for Salford City Council is like joining a big, strong, supportive community-based family. Children come into foster care for many different reasons. Sometimes their family need help to get through hospital treatment or a difficult patch, but sometimes home is no longer safe. That’s why fostering for Salford City Council makes such a difference to local children and young people. When children cannot stay with their birth family, we want them to remain in their community to maintain their relationships, school, support networks and friendships. As a council foster carer, you have the choice between offering short or long-term care, ranging from occasional weekends to weeks or months right through to caring for a child until they become an adult. Salford City Council will provide you with support to choose the right type of fostering for you. We offer excellent training and mentoring with a range of support services covering school, health and wellbeing. You will be paid an allowance to enable you to meet the needs of children and young people. The council also provides equipment, such as baby gates, beds, wardrobes, school items such as uniforms, photos and trips and an annual holiday. For children aged 11 and older there are free gym passes and sports and community activities.
When it comes to training, we’ll provide lots of it to help you succeed as a foster carer – and we even hold awards evenings for you and the children you care for. Our sessions cover everything from paperwork and first aid to comprehensive training on internet safety. Your training is delivered and updated continually by skilled and experienced social workers and other professionals in health and education. Skills payments are linked to your training and development. We welcome people from all backgrounds, with faith or no faith, different cultures, working or not, single or in families, LGBTQ+, with or without their own children and with or without previous experience of caring for children and young people. You need to be flexible, caring, strong, optimistic and determined to support children, creating great experiences for them to raise their confidence and ambitions but also helping them through difficult and challenging times.
Call 0161 799 1268 or visit www.salford.gov.uk/fostering to find out more about being a foster carer with Salford City Council.
