Serving to improve the customer journey for prospective foster carers — from early stage enquiry through to application — Gloucestershire County Council has partnered with regional support hub, Fostering South West as part of a government-backed scheme.
With the tagline 'foster with your local council', focusing on increasing levels of support and sharing resources for the benefit of children and fostering families, the Fostering South West hub will run as a 'front door' service across the regional and local authority cluster, acting as the first point of contact for all potential foster carers.
The hub will support prospective applicants through their assessment process with GCC Fostering and offer opportunities for additional learning, support and guidance to help in preparation for their transition to foster carer.
Once processed through Fostering South West, among 14 other local authorities, Gloucestershire County Council will pick up the enquiries and ensure the possible foster carers have all of the information and support they need throughout their journey.
Aiming to be the most efficient and functional service yet, particularly in the early stages of fostering exploration, Fostering South West will build on and enhance the good work already being conducted by GCC Fostering.
Karen Etheridge from Gloucestershire's fostering progression and development team said: 'Here in Gloucestershire we have strong numbers of foster carers coming forward each year. However, we always need more and this new approach will help us build on the good work already going on.'
The government has funded this service for an initial 12-month period, with updates on the collaboration to be delivered during this time.
For more information or a no-obligation chat with the Gloucestershire County Council Fostering team, call (01242) 532654, visit gloucestershire.gov.uk/fostering or email fostering@gloucestershire.gov.uk.
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