Why Action for Children provides the highest quality of care in Wales for their fostered children

Top quality service rating from All Wales National Fostering Framework 2016

Action for Children is a national charity that works with more than 390,000 children and families each year. It has recently celebrated 145 years of working with some of the most vulnerable children in the UK and it has now been scored as the highest quality fostering service by the All Wales National Fostering Framework 2016.

Matt Lewis, Children’s Placement Manager with Action for Children said: “I’m really proud of our fostering team. The fact that we have achieved this for our foster children is brilliant news. It really is a reflection of the commitment and dedication of our highly skilled social workers and our fantastic foster parents.

“As one of the few fostering charities in Wales, we believe that foster children deserve stable, long-term foster families and as a charity we have been able to continually invest in our services to support foster parents who are the heart of caring for fostered children.

“Action for Children is the only charitable therapeutic fostering service in Wales. The reason the service has been developed therapeutically is not because we care for different children, it’s simply because we believe that all fostering services should be run this way. This ensures our foster carers receive absolutely the right type of support from the outset. We have the expertise in-house to help the carers and the children when needed to promote long term stable fostering family relationships.’

Matt added: “We all know that children from difficult backgrounds of neglect and abuse have additional hurdles to overcome and require extra support and the right approach to help them to feel truly part of a long term fostering family. Our service offers a unique level of support to our carers that can’t be found anywhere else in Wales.”

This support includes:

• Comprehensive therapeutic training for foster carers and Local Authority social workers and educationalists to ensure a holistic understanding of the child.

• In school consultation to support our children and carers access the right education.

• Our own in-house therapeutic attachment play space and resource.

• Specialist multi agency ‘Attachment’ clinics to ensure excellence in care and a joined up approach.

• Fostered children’s Arts and Crafts workshop.

• A social calendar of fostering family events and activities

Foster parent Tracey Holyoake has recently joined Action for Children after a long time working for other foster care providers.

Tracey said:  “Prior to transfer I was unhappy and struggling to understand my foster child and feared that the placement would breakdown and that our relationship would end despite all we had been through together over the last 5 years.  I chose Action for Children because I liked that they were a charity and that they appeared to be able to offer me the support I needed.

“The team immediately set about supporting me and my partner, helping us understand our child better and to know what to do to improve things. They also worked in partnership with social services and the education dept. to help them understand what my child needed. This resulted in a different education setting which was much more suited to his needs. As a result I’ve seen a dramatic improvement in our home life and the relationship between my foster child and me is back on track like it used to be.”

She added: “It was a refreshing change to join an organisation that is in it for the children and is charitable in its values and practice. The Action for Children social workers are always at the end of the phone and will pop over to see me if I need a chat and some advice. I also love the work they are doing with my foster child and me – It’s therapy that works.  I’m really pleased I made the move to join their team.”

Whether you’re an experienced foster carer or if you’re wanting to try fostering for the first time, Action for Children Fostering Wales is a safe place to be.  To find out more, please call 01633 270422 for more information, go to www.actionforchildren.org.uk or find us onhttps://www.facebook.com/Actionforchildrenfosteringwales