The Acorns professional fostering service is recruiting in the Northallerton and Darlington areas.

Would you like to work with us to give children and young people a chance?

Professional carers look after children and young people who cannot live with their own families and who need support and guidance to equip them to move on in life.

If you have a spare room, spare time and enthusiasm for a new challenge why not find out more?

Foster placements can last a few days, a few months or a few years depending on your circumstances and the needs of the children concerned. Whatever kind of work you do with us, you can be sure you will receive excellent training and support and very competitive rates of pay and allowances (£350 to £500+per week for a full time placement).

We want to recruit local people who can look after children of all ages. Some people specialize in younger children including family groups, others care for children with special needs and disabilities, teenagers or young parents with their babies for short term assessment work.

There is a particular need for people with the skills and experience to take on the challenge of older teenagers who have been in trouble with the law or are moving on from the care system. Young parents needing help or support to cope with their babies are another high priority group.

Previous experience of fostering or paid work with children young people is not necessary-although it is often an advantage. The important things are team working, a real concern to improve things for children and the persistence to stick with young people through difficult times.

It helps to have ‘can do’ attitude, a sense of humour and a strong support network around you because, like anything really worth doing, fostering can be a challenging as well as a really rewarding job
If you are still interested, we’d love the chance to talk to you further about what we are doing in this area. There are lots of checks and a full application process to go through-as you would expect-but you will be supported all the way by our local team.

Please talk to us at the Jobs Fair in Northallerton Town Hall on 4 December or the Dolphin Centre on 5 February or phone 01325466525 and ask to speak to someone from the fostering services.

Give us a chance! It could be a great new start for everyone!