The new Acorns Fostering Service was approved by OFSTED in 2013 and we have been working with the local community to build a strong team of foster carers who can look after children and young people of all ages.

The Acorns carers have full training and support from our very experienced fostering staff and can offer long term or short term care depending what fits with their skills, their own families and the assessed needs of each child.

We believe that, wherever possible, the best place for children and young people to live is in a family environment and our carers aim to provide a wide range of family experiences and to support each child or young person to achieve their goals. Some of our fostering families have children at home and some do not. Carers can be of any age, single or part of a couple and have skills and interests ranging from caring for special needs babies to looking after sibling groups, offering respite care for children with disabilities, longer term care, family work or structured programmes for teenagers who have got themselves into trouble .

Foster carers are paid a weekly fee plus a maintenance allowance for each child’s needs and work closely with our staff and the child’s social worker, school and family to achieve the best outcomes possible.