Could you become a fostering friendly employer?

Stockport Council’s fostering team is calling on more of the borough’s employers to consider how they can become more friendly workplaces for colleagues looking to become foster carers.

Fostering is a way of providing a family life for children who cannot live with their own parents. There are around 300 children in foster care in Stockport, of all ages (0-18 years of age) and from various cultural and social backgrounds, who are placed in foster care for many different reasons. Stockport particularly has a need to place our older children, teenagers and siblings in local fostering homes.

Businesses are being invited to join the Council’s foster friendly employer scheme and commit to offering flexibility to employees who choose to foster. Companies can help by:

• Offering time off for training: In Stockport, all foster carers must go through a robust assessment process and intensive training before they can be approved. Stockport Council offers up to 5 days for the training needed, usually spread over a number of weeks.
• Flexibility: Foster carers need to be able to respond to the needs of the children in their care. Access to flexible working, swapping shifts with colleagues or similar could really help foster carers.
• Emergency leave: Providing foster carers with the same access to emergency leave as parents and recognising fostered children as dependents will enable foster carers to provide a stable and secure home for the children they care for.

Businesses can also benefit from becoming a fostering friendly employer through boosted brand reputation in the community and supporting staff morale through showing a commitment to work-life balance. Becoming a fostering friendly employer can also contribute to corporate social responsibility goals and show dedication to supporting the local area through support for schemes to celebrate foster carers, such as Foster Care Fortnight (held every May).

Major employers including Tesco and O2 are already signed up to the national scheme for businesses to support foster carers. To learn more, contact the Stockport Council’s fostering team online or read their digital brochure on becoming a foster friendly employer.