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Fostering with Sunbeam

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Excellent support from your social worker

Strong Local Authority relationships

Positive care leaver outcomes

Placement success outcomes

Supporting asylum seekers

Access to therapeutic support

Diversity and connecting

Passionate ownership

Commissioning strength

Membership to Foster Talk

Local support network

Placement stability

Competitive carer payments and support levels

Positive values and care

Loyalty and commitment

High referral levels

Management experience

Excellent staff resources

Brilliant activities for children

Focused 1-1 induction when joining Sunbeam

Strong focus on quality

The Sunbeam family

Excellent Placement Team

Data security matters

Diversity and connecting

Excellent training

Experience and support for enhanced and complex placements

Career Path

Getting started with fostering

How to become a foster carer with Sunbeam

There are a number of things involved in the process. Normally this can take from 3-6 months depending on how quickly we receive these checks and other related actions to become a foster parent. The process can be completed on a timely basis, we have excellent experience of assessments, we have approved over 1,000+ foster carers. Sunbeam's professional team will be there to help and support you at every step.
You will receive full support at all stages and help with anything you are unsure of.

Fostering with Sunbeam

Sunbeam Fostering Agency

Become a foster carer with Sunbeam Fostering Agency. Do you want to become a foster carer and looking for a local fostering agency with whom you want to become a foster carer? Sunbeam offers up to £700 per child per week with excellent support to all foster carers. 

Sunbeam provides local support to all carers. We have many different offices and local support centres in many different locations to make it easier for all our foster carers.  This means you will have a supervising social worker local to you and available to support you if you need them. Also, we have a support team available on a 24/7/365 basis who will help and support you while fostering with Sunbeam.

Sunbeam Fostering Agency is one of the largest and most progressive independent fostering agencies in England, we have many offices and support centres in different locations to make it easier for all our foster carers. Please visit our contact us page to locate the nearest Sunbeam office to you.

Simple process

Steps to become a foster carer

The process of becoming a foster carer is summarised below. Click each step for information to be displayed below. You will receive full support at all stages and help with anything you are unsure of.
01
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Make an Enquiry
Call us or complete an online enquiry form Sunbeam will contact you for an initial discussion and arrange for an enquiry form to be completed over the phone or online.
02
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Initial Home Visit
A worker from Sunbeam will visit to discuss fostering with you further, to gather some background information about you and your family and to check you have appropriate bedroom space in your home and discuss any other Health & Safety related issues.
03
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Preparation & Training
You will receive specific training through a three day training course to prepare you to foster and to achieve “Skills to Foster”. Attending courses will also allow you to meet other carers, share experiences and learn more about foster care.
04
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Approved
The Agency decision maker will have the final decision regarding your approval. Once approved you will then be a registered carer with Sunbeam Fostering Agency, and be able to take “looked after children” and young people into your home and care for them.

Start fostering with Sunbeam

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    Click here to find your nearest Sunbeam office

    Sunbeam Fostering Agency is one of the largest independent fostering agencies in the UK. We welcome foster carers from a diverse range of backgrounds and all ages.

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    © 2022 Sunbeam Fostering Agency

    Excellent support from your social worker

    • 4 weekly visits and more regular where beneficial for everyone
    • 30 team members with 5+ years at Sunbeam showing our experience and commitment
    • 11 team members with 10+ years with Sunbeam!
    • Contactable 24 hours and always there for you
    • Social Work England registered and qualified
    • Caseload levels below 10 foster carers on average for each social worker to ensure a high level of 1:1 support
    • 30 team members with 5+ years’ service at Sunbeam showing our experience and loyalty
    • 11 team members with 10+ years’ service!

    Strong Local Authority relationships

    • Over 75 meetings held annually on a 1:1 basis with our local authorities
    • Local authority frameworks held with all key local authorities

    Positive care leaver outcomes

    • 95% of care leavers in education or employment

    Placement success and outcomes

    • Over 800 children and supported last year
    • Since 2000, over 7,000 children supported to deliver positive outcomes. Amazing support from our carers and staff to achieve this together!

    Supporting asylum seekers

    • Excellent experience of supporting unaccompanied asylum seekers
    • Sunbeam has supported 1,000+ young persons across the last 20 years
    • All our handbooks are in different language to support young persons
    • Experience is held by our foster carers to support young persons following the potential difficulties from their home country, family and journey

    Access to therapeutic support

    • Monthly therapeutic support groups – 30+ group sessions held last year
    • Contact and support from our qualified therapist

    Keeping children together

    • Excellent knowledge and support for siblings placements
    • Over 2,000 siblings successfully supported
    • Current placements include sibling placements for 5 children together

    Passionate ownership

    • Three social worker owners that set up Sunbeam up in 2000
    • Over 90 years of fostering experience

    Our Sunbeam Board, Muhammad, Karamjit, Naseem and Simon commented, “We are committed to delivering positive outcomes for all children and young persons. Sunbeam will always look to go the extra step and we are proud of the achievements from our foster carers and staff team. Hearing about children’s achievements is fantastic and at the heart of our agency.”

    Commissioning strength

    • 100% tender success rate with Local authorities
    • 20 key contracts held to secure referrals on a preferred basis

    Membership of Foster Talk

    • All carers have membership with Foster Talk
    • Access to support on tax, legal and fostering issues (including independent support for complaints)
    • Foster carer insurance
    • Max card allocation for dedicated discounts on retailers for foster carers

    Local support network

    • 11 local offices (including resource centres) to ensure we are local to our foster carers for support
    • 200 carers under 20 miles from our offices or local support centre

    Placement stability

    • Average placement length of 650+ days for our children and young persons. This compares to the national average of 386 days (Source: DFE – 2020)
    • 6,800 years combined length of all placements for children and young persons

    Competitive carer payments and support levels

    • Carer payments up to £700 per week (per child or young person) – depending on the needs and support to the child or young person

    Positive values and care

    • A dedicated service around the needs of looked after children to ensure placement stability
    • A thriving children support group for looked after children and your own birth children

    Loyalty and commitment from our foster carers!

    • 40 carers with over 10+ years with Sunbeam
    • 20 carers with 15+ years with Sunbeam
    • Combined length of support of 4,000 years together from all foster carers

    High referral levels

    • 500 referrals received each week
    • 100% response to all referrals

    Management experience

    • Senior team members have 80 years combined service with Sunbeam across 8 team members!

    Excellent staff resources

    • 100 team members to support our carers
    • 1 team member to every 4 carers
    • Investor in People Award held

    Brilliant activities for children

    • 100 events for children across the year
    • Events including awards, summer club activities, beach trips, day trips, sports and fun days, pantomimes and easter egg hunts!
    • Regular competitions!
    • Weekly education workshop with our education consultant

    Focused 1:1 induction when joining Sunbeam

    • Interactive and dedicated time from your social workers
    • Personal welcome from Senior Management to all new carers

    Strong focus on quality

    • At Sunbeam, we are proud of our standards and the support and training that we provide to our foster carers
    • Excellent care standard and support across the group

    The Sunbeam Family

    • All our foster carers, team members and children are hugely important to us!
    • We look after each other and celebrate birthdays together each and other achievements
    • All managers meet annually at our Meet the Managers events
    • Celebrations are held for our year end, Christmas, Eid and other events
    • Annual children awards are held each year to celebrate achievements together

    Excellent placement team and resource

    • 5 dedicated team members – no other responsibilities other than to secure placements
    • 35 years of experience and support at Sunbeam
    • 160 hours per week committed to contacting carers to match placements

    Our Senior Placement Officer, Roshin Varghese commented “We are passionate about meeting children’s needs through effective matching to meet and exceed the needs for each child or young person.”

    Data security matters

    • Focus on data protection and ISO27001 accreditation held for Cyber Security

    Diversity and connecting

    • Team members from 15 different countries and background
    • Over 20+ languages covered
    • Black Lives Matters supported and promoted

    Excellent training

    • 125 training courses delivered annually together
    • Access to 50 bespoke online training courses
    • Regular Skills to Foster for new carers

    Experience and support for enhanced and complex placements

    • Support from Sunbeam+ through increased training, 1:1 support and carer payment
    • Experience and support to 250+ enhanced and complex children (including parent and child placements)

    Over 50% of our referrals are for enhanced or complex children or young persons

    Career Path

    • We offer a career path into social work and further national qualifications of fostering. Currently, we offer over 100 different trainings to our foster carers
    • You will receive full support at all stages and help with anything you are unsure of
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