Who is the Social Worker who comes in the house and supports my foster carer?
The Social Worker that will visit your foster carer is their Supervising Social Worker. Their job is to make sure that the foster carer is doing everything that they can to look after the children within their care in the best possible way. This might include considering training for the foster carers so they can learn more about how to care for you.
What do the Fostering Team do?
The purpose of the fostering team is to find the best possible carers for young people who are in care in Knowsley. Currently the social workers in the team either have a supervising role or they assess applicants who wish to become foster carers.
Supervising Social Worker
- Responsible for supervising and supporting foster carers. They do this by making regular visits to the home to see all members of the household.
- During our visits and particularly when we visit unannounced we like to see the children and young people who are living there. We want to get to know them to make sure they feel happy and safe.
- Making sure the Foster carers are providing the best possible care to children living with them, such as supporting them to go to school, attending health appointments and ensuring they have opportunities to access social and leisure activities.
- They will also support foster carers with their skills and development by identifying training relevant to their role.
Assessing Social Worker
Their role is a little different to the Supervising Social Worker. They are responsible for assessing any people who wish to become foster carers. As part of this they will gather all the information about them and complete a health check and police check to make sure they are safe and able to care for children. All this information then has to be presented at the Fostering Panel who will decide whether they agree for them to be approved as foster carers or not.
Who is in the Fostering Team?
Ruth France is the Head of Service for fostering.
The team and their roles are as follows;
Karen Hourihan-Team Manager
John Corcoran- Senior Practice Lead
Maureen Roberts- Advanced Practitioner
Sue Allister- Supervising social worker
Tina Cooney-Supervising social worker
Kim Samuels-Supervising social worker
Joan Gallagher-Supervising social worker
Lynne McDonough-Assessing social worker
Sinead Attwood-Assessing social worker
Rachel Daintry-Assessing social worker
We also have a marketing and recruitment coordinator who is Alex Kinsella. Alex’s role is to recruit new foster carers for Knowsley Council. Chris Clarke and Wendy Tyrell are in the payments team. We also have three members in the admin team – Kim, Natalie and Zoe.
If I have a problem with my foster carer who can I talk to?
You can speak to your social worker if you are not happy with your foster carer or anything about your placement. They will then inform the fostering team and we will work together to resolve the problem. The important thing is that you tell somebody if you are unhappy and that could be a teacher in school or anybody you feel comfortable talking to. They will then be able to pass on the information to your social worker on your behalf. Your foster carer has an annual review and you will be asked for your views and feedback about what you feel about living there and how things are going with your carer.
Can I stay in contact with my foster carer/their children if/when I leave there?
Quite often young people do maintain contact. This would need to be discussed with your social worker and the views of your foster family would be sought. If it was felt to be in your best interests then this could be written into the care plan.
