A key priority for Cllr Sean Donnelly, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, is to ensure children and young people are safe, happy, healthy and achieve in their life. For many children and young people, this is achieved with the support of foster carers.
The council needs more foster carers to provide love, care and stability to children and young people in Knowsley. Here, Cllr Donnelly shares his views on why fostering for Knowsley is so important.
What is fostering?
“Fostering is when a child or children can’t live with their family for a period of time. This could be due to illness, a bereavement or other issues and it could be for a night, a week or longer.”
Why is fostering important?
“I don’t think you can underestimate the difference you can make to a child’s life, providing them with a safe, loving and stable home even for short periods of time. Fostering helps to ensure that children and young people can stay close to their home and school, around their familiar surroundings, friends and networks.”
What qualifications do you need to foster?
“You don’t need any qualification or experience. What you need is love and support to accommodate a child or children. Full training and support will be provided.”
Do you need to be married to foster?
“No, your relationship status does not affect your fostering application. Nor does your age, sexuality, ethnicity, employment status, whether you have a disability, own your own home or have pets. These are all misconceptions around fostering and if you are interested in providing a home for a child or young person, please do get in touch for an informal discussion and any questions you have can be answered.”
What are the benefits of fostering?
“Our foster carers say that the main benefit to them is seeing a child settled, develop and flourish and they say it’s very rewarding. They love being able to share their home, providing them with a sense of belonging, love and support and ultimately making a positive difference to their lives.”
Will support be provided?
“Yes, lots of support will be available to you and you are never on your own. We have a very supportive “foster-care family” here in Knowsley where you will have access to specialists in our fostering team, a support network of other foster carers, you’ll be allocated a mentor, you’ll have access to health professionals and much more.
“In addition, you’ll receive training, a generous allowance, access a range of group activities, celebrations and events, be able to access exclusive offers and discounts, get free membership Volair leisure sites, be supported with equipment such as prams as well as health and wellbeing support.”
How can I find out more?
“I can appreciate you may have more questions which can be answered by the Foster4Knowsley team. Call them for an informal chat on 03456 460098, email enquiry@foster4.co.uk or visit https://www.foster4.co.uk/knowsley/.
“I really look forward to hearing from you.”