Fostering News - exciting February updates!

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Fostering News

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Welcome to the February edition of Fostering News! We have some exciting updates about our new campaign which launches this month, as well as our enhanced “refer a friend” reward scheme. We also feature some great opportunities for your looked after foster children to get involved with, including writing competitions and pre-driving courses.

Fostering recruitment campaign launch

Fostering campaign banner

 

We're excited to share an exclusive first look at our new fostering recruitment campaign artwork! The new campaign will kick off with a publicity event held at Sherwood Forest on Wednesday 12 February from 1:30pm - 3pm where we have invited 60 local school children to come and create some fantastic land art which will represent our need for more foster carers. The children will then be accompanied by County Councillors to plant tree saplings near the Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre, which have been donated by the Woodland Trust. These trees will be dedicated to all the Looked After Children in Nottinghamshire, and local media have been invited to capture and publicise this fantastic event which will kick off the rest of our promotional work to encourage more people to apply to foster.

We warmly welcome any foster carers and staff to join us at the event or let us know how else you would like to support this new recruitment campaign - email us at fostering@nottss.gov.uk.

Increased referral reward

We are really pleased to announce that we have increased the “refer a friend” reward to £250! We truly believe that foster carers themselves have the best eye for spotting someone who would make a great foster carer, so we are thrilled to be able to reward our carers when they do recommend someone. Simply tell your family and friends to contact the recruitment team and let us know who referred them, then once they have been approved following panel we can process the payment to you!

Pre-driver training

Driving

If you currently care for a young person who is aged 15-17, a pre-driver training course could get them ready for starting driving lessons, and could cut down the number of driving lessons they would need to take once they're old enough to take their test.

There are a number of free places for looked after children, however it may not be suitable for everyone so please make sure it is booked in with the approval of the child’s social worker.

Find out more

Leaving Care Offer – WERK Programme

WERK

Young people leaving care in Nottinghamshire can now benefit from a Work Experience Readiness and Knowledge (WERK) programme, which will be a 2/3-day programme that all our 16/17-year-old looked after children will be able to access.

It will have a range of pre-employability and Careers Education Information Advice and Guidance activities (CEIAG) to help ensure that the young people are ready for and able to get the most out of their work experience placement. Work experience will also be arranged with businesses to occur within 8 weeks of the young person attending the WERK.

Find out more

Writing competition

Coram are holding their annual creative writing competition for looked after children and care leavers, which is called “Voices”.   

Every year, young people write inspiring stories, poems, raps, and articles, hoping to be shortlisted for their awards ceremony in the Spring. The theme for Voices 2020 is ‘Dreams‘.

Voices is a celebration of the creativity, talent and imagination of Looked After Children and Care Leavers.

Find out more

Access to Notts Outdoors Getaway Breaks

John Hunt Base

Foster carers now have exclusive access to Notts Outdoors self-catering accommodation at two beautiful sites in the Peak District for a greatly subsidised rate. The John Hunt Base (pictured) and St Michael's venues were previously only available for educational use and we hope foster families will benefit from the access to the beautiful outdoors these provide. There are many exciting activities to enjoy in the local area that can also be booked with Notts Outdoors.

Please speak to your supervising social worker to discuss bedroom sharing agreements before booking, as some of the accommodation may not be suitable for all families.

John Hunt Base at Hagg Farm

St Michael's

To check availability and to book, call Notts Outdoors directly on 01623 556 110 or nottsoutdoors@nottscc.gov.uk

As the accommodation is used by the Youth Service, booking for foster families will be

subject to availability.

As this is a new initiative, we are asking for feedback on your experience of booking and using the accommodation. Please send any comments you have to emily.wormall@nottscc.gov.uk.

Inspire courses

Inspire Learning Courses are available to our foster carers free of charge. We have had some small teething issues implementing this benefit as the call centre staff at Inspire were not aware of the the arrangement but this has been rectified and there should be no further issues going forwards.

Currently the Community and Family Learning courses are free but not the higher education or accredited courses. We will let you know if this changes in the future!

Visit Inspire

Fostering Network update

Sarah Furby, advice and mediation worker for Fostering Network has now left the service. Bethan Houston has temporarily taken over the role and can be contacted by email Bethan.Houston@fostering.net or telephone 01905 622459. We will let you know when we know of a permanent replacement.


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