Children Always First – My WordPress Blog

Here at Children Always First we do exactly what our name suggests – we put the needs of children first. We are a small family-owned Independent Fostering Agency based in Bromsgrove, operating exclusively in the West Midlands. We offer a family placement service that genuinely provides the very highest level of support to our carers. We are always continually striving to achieve the very best outcomes for our children and young people and to date we can be proud of all we have achieved.

We genuinely care about every single child or young person placed with us and we do all we can to support our amazing carers who look after them. We have capped our growth to a maximum of 60 fostering households in order to keep our ‘family feel’ and maintain our outstanding levels of support to each and every carer. We want to recruit potential carers who share our ethos that every child really matters.

We feel part of an agency that really do put children first, this is evidenced in all CAF strive to provide.– CAF Foster Carer 2018

Therapeutic Parenting Approach

We train and support all of our foster carers to operate within a therapeutic parenting model which we feel best meets the needs of looked after children and young people. This style helps the child or young person form positive attachments with care givers after often damaging early life experiences. Our therapeutic parenting styles redress the balance and pro-actively encourages children to make strong and lasting attachments. We aim to rebuild children’s trust in adults which is a fundamental part of how we work as an agency.

DDP

We are extremely fortunate that we work with Dr Kim Golding. Kim was trained and mentored by Dan Hughes (founder in the use Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Practices). This approach is based on what is understood about the attachment and trauma needs of children and young people. Children in care may have had many changes of care givers so may find it hard to trust adults. The DDP Model helps the children learn to trust again through an attitude of PACE, cognitive reasoning and talking. This style of parenting is one we feel extremely passionate about.

Social Pedagogy Theory

Social Pedagogy has been a main stay of European provision for years. Its basic premise is all experiences are learning opportunities. Through encouraging young people to try different activities learning is endemic: as is the shared experience resulting in strong relationships with carers. Social Pedagogy is a way of looking at education holistically, ensuring each experience is maximised as a learning opportunity in turn developing confidence, self-esteem and social education. From our experience, this style really works in children and young people’s development.

What makes Children Always First different?

Support

We feel the support we offer is second to none. In order to maintain our first class support our Fostering Social Workers have lower caseloads and we offer 24 hours a day, 365 days a year support. By offering this we can be there any time day or night for you.

Professional Status

We always treat our foster carers as professionals and pay generous fees and allowances. This enables our carers to easily replace the income from a full time job and focus on providing the best possible care for the children they are looking after.

Training

We recognise how important Training and Development is, so we make sure we offer a diverse range of over 30 different training courses and regular Carer Support Groups per year. After listening to our Foster Carers we also offer bespoke in home training.

Youth Support Team

We are very fortunate that we have a dedicated Youth Support Team who work with our Children and Young people. This includes one-to-one mentoring, group activities, trips out and an extensive social activities calendar including two big events a year.

OUR STORY

Children Always First is a small family-owned Independent Fostering Agency founded by Jan Blazak and Julie Elliot. Their vision and insight has been instrumental to where the Agency is today.

As an agency we have grown greatly in the last five years in terms of our foster carers. To make sure everything run smoothly for the people who matter our foster carers and children we have a team of 19 professional staff, so that we ensure our Fostering Social Workers and Youth Support Team don’t have large caseloads. We will never become some massive national organisation, as we want to be certain we never lose touch with our carers and children.

Contact Details

Registered Office

Children Always First Ltd

Office 1 Ladybird Barn

Old Burcot Lane

Bromsgrove

Worcestershire

B60 1PH

Email

info@childrenalwaysfirst.co.uk

Phone

01527 917 888

If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact us, please complete the form below.

Fostering for CAF FAQs
(click the + for more information)

Is there an age range?

The Standards set out by Coram Baaf say that there is no minimum age for fostering. However as an agency we suggest that anyone over the age of 21 can apply to foster for us. Experienced Foster Carers often foster into their 60s so if you feel like fostering could be right for you, please get in touch.

Can I foster if I'm single?

Here at CAF we have lots of single foster carers, whether you are a male or female single person it doesn’t matter as long as you have the skills and qualities to be a good foster carer, that’s all that matters.

Do I have to own my accommodation to be able to foster?

As long as you have a home with at least one spare bedroom that is all you need. If you do live in a rented property it is advised you get your landlord’s permission. We can help and advise you with this.

Employment Status

People often ask us if they can be unemployed and be a foster carer, this isn’t a problem at all. We can talk you through the financial side of fostering before we start the assessment process. On the flip side, you can also be employed and be a foster carer for CAF, as long as you have the capacity to be available for the child or children you look after, as being a foster carer there will be an expectation you attend meetings to do with the child/ children. So as long as you feel you can be flexible to meet the needs of the child/ children then this shouldn’t be a problem.

Can I foster for CAF if I'm in a same sex relationship or part of the LGBTQ Community?

We are proud of our diversity and inclusive approach.We welcome everyone here at CAF. We currently have foster carers from the LGBTQ community already fostering for us in a single and couple capacity. We are looking for people who have the right skills and qualities to offer a child a loving, nurturing home.