Transfer to us

Join our fostering family in Lancashire. If you are thinking about transferring to foster with us we will support you and your foster family every step of the way.

We know it's a big deal and you may be nervous about the transfer process, especially if you are already caring for a child long term. Our experienced Recruitment and Assessment team will support you through the transfer.

Here is what two of our transferring foster carers said about their experience:

 

We have recently reviewed our fostering payments making them even more competitive. If you are already caring for a Lancashire child at the point of transfer, we will match your current payment until the child is 18 or leaves your care. Any other children you may care for will be paid at our current rates.

Continuing care 

If you have a child in your care we will aim for continuity of care and reduce the time it takes to transfer. We work with your Supervising social worker and agency for a smooth transition. This starts with a joint meeting, chaired by experienced staff, to help us learn more about you and any children you may be caring for. Further information on this can be given at your initial enquiry.

Our dedicated Family Finding team place our children with our own carers wherever possible. It is often best for children to live locally to their families, friends and schools. By fostering for us, you are more likely to have regular, longer-term children placed with you as all ages need homes.

We match our children to our in-house foster carers and all departments work together to achieve the best outcome for our children.

We approve all our carers for children from birth to 18 years and for up to three children to allow flexibility. (This depends on the number of spare bedrooms in your home). We understand people's circumstances change throughout their fostering journey.

Pay and support

We offer excellent support and training to enable you to do the job to the best of your ability. Our modernised Skills to Foster training reflects current fostering challenges and expectations. We recently launched our specialist Sons and Daughters training for birth children of applicants and Parent and Child training.

Our foster carers have access to:

• a locally based support team
• their own social worker
• a support worker to offer advice, support and guidance.

We also now ensure all foster carers are allocated a mentor whilst in the assessment process. This can be especially helpful in adjusting to a new service and are given a place on our Foster care academy.

Our fostering communities project provides local peer support to small groups of carers. As an experienced carer this is one of many opportunities to become more involved.

We provide out of hours support and a helpline staffed by experienced social workers.

Training is flexible, including during school hours, evenings and weekends and online training. We can tailor support to help you meet the needs of any child you are caring for.

If you are interested in transferring to us call our friendly team on 0300 019 0200.