Become a Fostering Friendly employer

A large group of people stood smiling at the camera. They're in a modern office setting, with a large, black oval-shaped table in front of them.

Stockport Council is proud to be a Fostering Friendly employer.

If you're a local employer, you can also help support Stockport’s children and young people in care.

Fostering Friendly logo

Fostering

Fostering is a way of providing a family life for children and young people who cannot live with their own parents. Often, children may return home once the problems that caused them to come into foster care have been resolved. Some stay in long term foster care, some may be adopted and others will move on to live independently.

There are over 300 children and young people in foster care in Stockport. This includes a large number of older children, teenagers and siblings who need to be placed in local fostering homes.

Foster carers are required to provide a safe, healthy and nurturing environment for children and young people. They help to guide them through life and encourage them to make their own choices.

You can find more information about fostering on our webpage.

How you can help

Our foster carers have an important role as part of the professional team around the child. They need to be available to attend training and meetings about the child’s care.

As a Fostering Friendly employer, you’ll help foster carers to balance their work and caring responsibilities. You have the opportunity to support Stockport’s most vulnerable children and young people by:

  • recognising the needs of foster carers in your employment policies
  • helping us to celebrate fostering and foster carers

Time off for training

Foster carers must go through an intensive assessment process and training. Employers can support staff who are interested in fostering by giving them time off to attend pre-approval training. This is usually 5 days, spread over a number of weeks.

Jason

Stockport foster carer

When we first considered fostering, my concern was to make sure that my job was not affected. I valued the support of my employer when I needed time off for foster carer training.

Flexibility

Foster carers need to be able to:

  • respond to the needs of the children in their care
  • attend regular meetings about the children in their care

Employers can support foster carers by allowing flexible working or shift swaps to provide flexibility.

Emergency leave

The unexpected happens and you can support foster carers by:

  • providing the same access to emergency leave as parents
  • recognising fostered children as dependents

Promote fostering

To help us promote fostering, you can:

  • provide information about how to become a foster carer on noticeboards, intranet sites and internal publications
  • host an information session about fostering for your staff where we’ll explain the support that we offer
  • provide space in your workplace during Foster Care Fortnight which is held every year in May to raise awareness and recruit new foster carers
  • work with us to offer social events and support services for local foster families

Benefits

By becoming a Fostering Friendly employer, you’ll build on your brand and reputation by showing your commitment to supporting staff and the local community.

In return, we’ll:

  • provide advice and information to help you support staff who are already foster carers or who are interested in becoming foster carers
  • support you to raise awareness of fostering within your business
  • announce your Fostering Friendly scheme membership on our social media platforms
  • advertise your support in our foster carer newsletter

If you’re ready to become a Fostering Friendly employer or would like more information, you can contact the fostering team:

Last updated 19 November 2024