Every year thousands of new foster families are needed to look after children, teenagers, brother and sister groups and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who come into care and for whatever reason cannot live with their birth families.
This year Merton Council urgently needs to find 20 more foster families. Could you be one of them? We are looking for anyone who has a spare bedroom and the passion and commitment to help change a child’s life to get in touch and find out more.
Many people rule themselves out before finding out more about fostering – don’t be one of them. You can apply to foster if you have a spare bedroom and are aged over 21 years old – you can be on benefits, a single carer, be employed, rent or own your property, there is no upper age limit of who can apply to foster. We are encouraging people from all faiths, any background and from the LGBTQ communities to apply to foster.
Fostering is one of the most rewarding and inspiring jobs that you can do. Our Foster carers work with a team of people to support children and young people and help change their lives. Many of our foster carers foster with us from five to twenty five years. We are a small borough and pride ourselves on the relationship we have with our foster carers, who come from all walks of life and work together to help change children and young people’s lives.
You never foster alone, as a Merton Foster Carer you have telephone support from a Social Worker, 24 hours a day 365 days per year. We will buddy you up with a mentor to help you through your first year. You will also have your own social worker who will meet with you once per month.
Merton Council is proud to launch the innovative Mockingbird project this month. This programme delivers foster care using an extended family model to provide support to our existing carers. The programme aims to improve the stability of fostering placements and relationships between carers, children and young people, birth families and the Fostering Team.
As a Merton Foster Carer you will receive up £514 per week, per child, plus an additional £500 grant when you start fostering. You will also receive an allowance for foster children’s birthdays, religious festivals and to take them on holiday.
We host two virtual fostering information sessions per month, with one of our experienced foster carers, an assessing social worker and our recruitment officer. We will discuss what fostering is? Why children come into care, what makes a good foster carer, the assessment process and the payments and support you will receive. There is no need to book these, you can just join the call.
The sessions will be hosted via a Skype video call, but you can also take part as an audio call via the telephone numbers detailed below.
Wednesday 16 June 17.30 - 19.00
Please dial into the call on 020 7282 4906 and enter the following Conference ID: 3745349
Wednesday 7 July 10.30 - 12pm
Please dial into the call on 020 7282 4906 and enter the following Conference ID: 5024349
Wednesday 28 July 17.30 - 19.00
Please dial into call 020 7282 4906 and enter the following Conference ID: 2418783
If you want to find out more about Fostering for Merton and changing a child’s life get in touch today.
Contact Us:
Call 0208 545 4070
Visit www.merton.gov.uk/fostering
Facebook: Merton Fostering
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