Support and resources

Important links and documents that you will need as a foster carer.

Foster carer support groups

• Foster carer support group calendar 2024
  

Financial support policy

• Financial Support to Foster Carers Policy on Payments 2022-23

Leeds therapeutic social work team (Fostering surgery)

• The Fostering Surgery Leaflet (PDF, 457KB) external link details how carers can book appointments with the council therapeutic services to discuss the children and young people they are caring for

Help Employee Assistance

Foster carers can access a team of trained wellbeing and counselling advisors offering confidential, independent and unbiased information and guidance by phone, in writing, online and through face-to-face appointments for a wide variety of issues including bereavement, career/job stress, child care, legal issues, relationships, retirement and work life balance.

• Phone: 0800 028 5149 (24 hours a day)
• Further information: Leeds Help Employee Assistance website
  

Leeds Local Offer

The Leeds Local Offer provides information for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their parents and carers in a single place. It shows families what they can expect from a range of local agencies including education, health and social care to support them to make informed choices about the services they chose to use.

You can also join the Leeds Local Offer Facebook group.

National fostering organisations

• Community Care online, read the latest social care news, opinion and analysis
• CoramBAAF British Association of Adoption & Fostering (BAAF) is the leading membership organisation dedicated to improving outcomes for children and young people in care by supporting the agencies and professionals who work with them
• Fostering Network is the largest UK fostering charity. It provides a wealth of knowledge and resources to carers and fostering agencies
• Family Social LGBT Fostering and Adoption support charity membership is free to all our Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender foster carers
• Foster Talk Advice Service is an independent fostering agency that we provide free of charge to support carers who are faced with a serious complaint or allegation against them

Miscellaneous

• Muslim children in care - a guide for meeting their needs in foster carer
• Young Persons guide to Leaving Care Entitlements explains your rights under the Childrens and Leaving Care Act
• The Family Information Service website has details of early years educational provision for children under the age of 5 years old external link
• Information on the Junior ISAs scheme provided by the UK government for children in care
• Maxcard is a card that provides the families and carers of looked-after and disabled children with affordable days out
• Information booklet on caring for teenagers in foster care (PDF, 1.29MB)
• Kooth.comExternal link - free confidential online mental health resource for young people
• The Council of Europe has launched Handbook on child friendly information for children in migrationExternal link for frontline practitioners. This handbook unpacks ways and methods to communicate with children in migration without necessarily creating new information communication tools. Factsheets have been developed to serve as practical tools for the reader when communicating with children in migration in practice
• Information regarding Foster Carer Tax, Benefits and National Insurance Contributions
• Support for caring for gender variant young people - Mermaids is a charitable organisation that has evolved and grown to meet demand and offer appropriate resources to young people, their families and carers, and professionals working with gender variant young people.
• Trans Youth In Care - a Toolkit for Social Care Professionals
• free counselling services covering bereavement, bullying and harassment, career/job stress, child care/eldercare, debt, legal issues, relationships, sickness absence, trauma and work life balance

Resources for teenage asylum seekers in Leeds

• Help in Leeds is a directory of organisations in Leeds for refugees and asylum seekers. There is a category for children and young people which brings up organisations like Archway (who have an ESOL class for 16-25 year olds, as well as lots of other youth activities). There is a button on the bottom right of the page which translates the website which makes it easier for the young people to use it themselves.
• Angel of Youths is a youth charity which supports young people to get involved in their community and realise their goals. The young people there volunteer together on projects and issues that matter to them. It would be a great way for the young people you work with to meet other British young people.
  
• Learning English in Leeds is a pretty comprehensive list of all ESOL classes and groups in Leeds. However individual providers would need to be contacted about whether they had classes for 16-18 year olds.
• Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network A good organisation to contact about any support needs of Asylum seekers in Leeds
• Riley Coles, Volunteers Manager (English at Home) 07827 808 375 / 0113 373 1759