Sutton Council continues to push for more homes for Borough's most vulnerable children and young people

Sutton Fostering is celebrating one year since the launch of the latest Foster Care Recruitment campaign. Through the campaign, Sutton Fostering have strived to continue making a difference in care for young people across the London Borough of Sutton, and showcase the Borough for being a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Sutton Council is responsible for fostering around 250 children and young people who are in need of homes for whom the Council acts as Corporate Parent, and recruiting new carers to help look after them is an on-going campaign. Given the challenges in place as a result of COVID-19, Sutton Council is in need of foster carers now more than ever.

Foster carers do not need to have any specific qualifications and Sutton Council welcome people to apply from all backgrounds, religions and sexualities who have a passion for caring for children and a willingness to make a difference to help change children’s futures. As well as the personal rewards from helping young people to turn their lives around, Sutton Council offers a weekly allowance as well as training and support to help people begin their Foster Care journey.

Since the recruitment campaign launched 12 months ago the Council have engaged with a number of new foster carers. LGBT+ carers Craig Hill and Paul Clark began fostering over the last year and shared their views of becoming foster parents.

Of their fostering experience, Craig and Paul said; “We looked into Fostering 18 months ago as a way of providing support to our local community. Initial interviews and the application process commenced just before the first lockdown and we were advised that the process would be adapted due to restrictions from COVID-19. The application took approximately 6 months from start to approval which included virtual training and meetings with our social worker to help us prepare for placement.”

“We recently commenced our first placement and we feel very supported by our Social Worker. We are honoured to be Foster Carers and have found it rewarding when you can see positive changes to a young person in such a short amount of time.”

Councillor Marian James, Chair of the People Committee said; “Since the launch of Sutton Council’s Foster Care Recruitment campaign in October 2019, we have engaged with 10 new families across the borough who are now new to fostering, and despite current challenges, we hope to continue to build on the success of this over the next 12 months.”

“Fostering is life-changing for both the child or young person being fostered and for the family that cares for them. Anyone can apply regardless of age, marital status, gender, sexuality, disability or employment status and in most cases the process takes six to eight months.” 

During COVID-19 the Fostering Service has continued to adapt to meet the needs of the community and recruit foster carers. All visits are undertaken virtually in line with government guidelines and have adapted our practice to ensure everyone's safety. The fostering assessment will continue to offer thorough preparation to our applicants to ensure they feel ready to become foster carers Sutton Council is particularly in need of people who would like to care for teenagers and sibling groups.

For more information please visit; /fosteringinsutton

Or find ‘Fostering in Sutton’ on Facebook and Twitter