Meet Our Team: Kerryann, Recruitment Officer

Hi, I'm Kerryann and I've been the Carer Recruitment Officer here at St Christopher's for two years. I've spoken to more than 3,000 people like you who are interested in fostering.


You might be worried that fostering isn't for you but we're always looking for people from all sorts of different backgrounds to start supporting our young people. Your age, sexuality, relationship status or faith aren't barriers to becoming a foster carer. We're just looking for patient, dedicated people who want to change children's lives. I really want everyone to know that many different people can provide a family that will match many of the children in the care system.

If you want to have a chat with me about fostering, why not get in touch? You can enquire about fostering in a number of ways, including by email, telephone, Facebook or face-to-face. It all depends on what's more convenient for you.

Meet Kerryann

I make sure every single enquiry is followed up and I'll be able to answer any questions you have. I'll even ask you some questions but they're just so I can check you meet the minimum requirements, such as having a spare bedroom where young people can stay. Your information will be completely confidential and I won't judge your answers. Any questions are just so we can get the best possible carers for our young people. I'll also send you a booklet about fostering so you can take a look at home with your family and friends.

I think it's really important that you know about the support that's offered by St Christopher's throughout the fostering process. So many people would love to start fostering but we know you might have worries or concerns about things like financial and practical support. I and the rest of the fostering team will be with you every step of the way to make sure you're supported throughout your fostering journey. We pride ourselves on the training and support we offer so you'll be in good hands.


If you can and want to continue, I'll send your details to your local fostering team and a social worker will arrange to visit you. This also means that your social worker is never far away if you need help or support. Your social worker will have an Information Meeting with you and they'll go through up-to-date information about children who need foster carers. Again, this is all to help you decide if fostering is the best option for you and your family and you can ask all the questions you want. That's what we're here for!

I want you to know that all these stages of the fostering process are informal and it's a great way for you to get to know more about St Christopher's. You'll also get to meet our team who you'll work with closely if you're approved to foster.

If you want to change young people's lives, why not start your fostering journey today. Find out more and enquire about fostering by clicking here.

Becoming a Foster Carer: Training

Thanks for coming back to the St Christopher's blog. We're excited that you want to find out more about fostering young people. This time we'll be taking a look at the training and support you'll receive that will prepare you for fostering.

St Christopher's provides all our foster carers with great introductory training so that you feel confident that you can provide the best possible care for young people. Your introduction to fostering is made up of four parts:

• The Skills to Foster course
• Induction programme
• The foster carer's manual
• Ongoing training and development

Fostering is a challenging but rewarding career

Skills to Foster is a course that you'll be invited to attend following your successful enquiry. It's based on information from the Fostering Network and is a great way for you to learn exactly what fostering means and how important it is as an option for young people who can't stay with their families.

Skills to Foster covers three days and includes sessions on what foster carers do, understanding children in foster care, and how you can care for children safely.

You'll also find out about social workers and other professionals who'll support you in caring for young people and you'll even meet some of our existing foster carers. We encourage your family and friends to also attend the Skills to Foster course as we know they'll play an important role in your fostering journey.

As a potential foster carer, you'll also be invited to our induction days. These sessions are really useful as you'll learn about St Christopher's and our work with children and young people. This includes fostering, of course, but you'll also find out about our other wide-ranging services for young people and families.

The foster carer's manual is given to all our foster carers and you'll be given a copy once you're approved. It contains all the information and policies, which you can refer to whenever you need them. It's a handy tool that you can also use with your own supervising social worker.

As well as all this fostering preparation, we pride ourselves on our ongoing training and development opportunities for our foster carers. Your supervising social worker will always be on hand for advice and support and you'll have lots of chances to meet other foster carers at St Christopher's as well. There's lots of training sessions covering topics like safeguarding, equality and diversity, first aid, and attachment (an important psychological theory we use a lot).

Fostering is a challenging and rewarding career and we want to help you support young people to recognise and achieve their potential. Everybody has skills and experience that can help them be great foster carers, including you, and we'll help you every step of the way.

If you want to change young people's lives, why not start your fostering journey today. Find out more and enquire about fostering by clicking here.

Becoming a Foster Carer: Part 1

Becoming a foster carer for young people is a hugely rewarding career. So that you can help young people reach their full potential, prospective foster carers have to be approved by going through an application process. This process is the same for all fostering agencies, whether they're independent or a local authority. It takes up to 6 months to be approved but it means you're completely ready to start supporting young people.

Start your fostering journey today

Over the next few weeks, we'll be guiding you through the application process and giving you more information about what to expect. We know from listening to you that you can find the application process daunting, especially if you don't know much about it. That's why we're here to help.

There are four main stages to the process of becoming a foster carer:

1. Training
2. Assessment
3. Panel
4. Approval

Training

As a potential foster carer, you'll be invited to take part in courses to prepare you and help you learn about fostering young people. The courses are really helpful and give you a realistic view on what fostering involves and the different children you could be caring for.

Assessment

The assessment stage includes the checks that must be carried out by your social worker. These are required by law and help us ensure our foster carers can provide the best possible care for children and young people.

Panel

Our fostering panel is made up of childcare experts and people independent of St Christopher's. A report about your assessment will be discussed and you'll be invited to join the discussion. The fostering panel will recommend whether to approve someone as a foster carer.

Approval

The panel's recommendation will be given to St Christopher's agency decision maker. This person will confirm your approval and you'll be added to our register of foster carers, ready to start supporting young people.

Over the next few posts, we'll go into more detail about what you can expect at each stage. Next time, we'll take a look at the training stage and some of the things you'll learn about fostering.

If you're still thinking about fostering young people and want to know more, enquire on our website by clicking here.

Make a New Year's resolution to foster a child

Happy New Year! We hope your 2015 is already off to a great start.

We all spend January thinking about the new and exciting things we're going to try in the new year ahead so why not think about fostering?

Could you foster a young person?

Fostering is a rewarding career where you can help a young person reach their potential when they can't otherwise live with their parents.

We need enthusiastic and passionate people like you who can provide a safe, stable home for these young people and help them develop and thrive.

We'd love for you to get in touch if you'd like to know more about fostering our young people. Why not give our fostering team a call on 0800 234 6282 or you can enquire on our website.

If you're not yet ready to foster a young person, there are lots of other ways you can help make a huge difference to young people's lives. Find out more here.

We'e really looking forward to you helping us create brighter futures for young people.

St Christopher's remembers our young people in the World Wars

On Remembrance Day, we remember the impact that both WW1 and WW2 had on our young people at St Christopher's.

St Christopher's Fellowship has been providing support for children and young people since 1870 and has experienced many notable events throughout its history, including both World Wars. Using our archives, we've managed to uncover details about how St Christopher's and its young people were affected during wartime.

At the time of the First World War, there were many boys aged 17 and 18 living in St Christopher's homes and many of these young people enlisted in 1914 and were called up for service at home and abroad. St Christopher's was told that the boys were "always first when anything has to be done".

As well as supporting the young people already living in the services, St Christopher's also took in 70 Belgian refugees from 1914 to 1918. Letters later received from the Belgium young people expressed gratitude for the support they received from St Christopher's.

The young people staying in the homes made a big effort to contribute to the war effort, making crutches, knitting socks and contributing pocket money to wounded soldiers. One home, Tyndale House, even grew 205 bunches of grapes to send to London hospitals.

During the Second World War, one particular young man who contributed greatly was George Arthur Knowland, born in 1922. George was one of the first residents at Chiswick House, London, which opened in 1937. He really enjoyed his time at St Christopher's and praised the "wonderful work" we did during his time at Chiswick House.

Boys inside St Christopher's Chiswick House

In the early days of the war, George enlisted with the Royal Norfolk Regiment and was promoted to Lieutenant. George was sent to fight in Burma with the Commandos and was killed in action in 1945 during the Battle of Hill 170. Protecting his fellow soldiers, George's heroic actions ensured his platoon could hold on until reinforcements arrived. His bravery was acknowledged when he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross on January 31 1945.

Lieutenant George Arthur Knowland VC

Because of the love that George Arthur Knowland had for St Christopher's, Knowland House - one of our 16+ services near to where George grew up - is named in his honour and was opened in 2012 by his surviving sister Brenda Newman.

In total, at least 8,000 young people who had lived in St Christopher's homes were liable to fight in the First World War, not including those men already enlisted in the armed forces.

On this Remembrance Day, we remember all the young people supported by St Christopher's during the World Wars. As a quote from our archives says:

As we see them go from us we feel confident that they will be a credit to the various services to which they have become attached.