Fostering in Sandwell

This job is probably one of my favourites. Every day is different, every day has new challenges and every day has new rewards. It’s not always easy but each challenge you go through with the child bonds you and makes you both stronger for each other.

We have been fostering for the last 8 years and feel proud to be a part of the Sunbeam family. At the beginning, we thought it’s a tough job, but the skills to foster initial training and the whole assessment procedure to become a carer was interesting, and it gave us both a broad insight into both the tough and rewarding side of what we were likely to encounter.

“Fostering is a rewarding experience as it allows you to actually make a difference for a child/young person. I feel happy being able to make such a difference whether it is for one day or several years.”

“When they told me that I had been approved for fostering, well I just cried. I was an emotional wreck and was so happy that I just couldn’t hold back my very, very, happy tears.”

I have grown both professionally and personally at Sunbeam.am very grateful for that, as fostering is my passion, and my job allows me to use my skills whilst doing what I love.

All the staff at sunbeam are friendly and helpful , I truly feel like we are all a family and its nice when we all get together when celebrating foster carers and children’s achievements as it shows off everyone’s hard work.

It’s a great place to work. All the managers are super helpful and are always looking after their team. I have grown a lot at this agency.

Working for Sunbeam has been very fulfilling for me. As I get to work for the community and get a chance to make a difference as child welfare is at the core value of this agency.

I have been in placement with my foster carers for 11 years. Sunbeam placed me with foster carers who have always treated me like a family member. Sunbeam has also been very supportive throughout all these years

Fostering changes life, I have experienced this first-hand. My foster carers have been very supportive of me and my siblings. They keep us motivated to do good in our studies and always stay involve.

Sunbeam organises many fun and informative days out for us regularly. We recently went to the University of Cambridge and attended their seminar on ‘Realise’ program for care leavers. I am really thankful to Sunbeam for organising this trip.

Children and carers receive practical and therapeutic support from the agency and enjoy regular social occasions to relax, enjoy and celebrate alongside staff and managers.

“All children make good progress within this agency, in all areas of their lives. They benefit from committed and dedicated foster carers who are effectively trained, and supported to meet the individual needs of children”.

Staff and foster carers alike referred to the agency as being like a ‘family’ when describing their experiences. The registered manager consults well with carers and staff, incorporating their views when monitoring the quality of care provided to children. The registered manager has good audit systems in place and maintains good oversight of practice.

“The agency delivers a consistently good quality of care to foster carers and children. Management and staff support carers and children in ways that exceed what they might expect. Foster carers spoke about the flexibility, motivation and wide ranging support they receive from the agency”.

We love to work with children and are really happy with the support that we are getting from Sunbeam. Our social worker is wonderful, we couldn’t have done it without her.

We are very happy with the support that we are getting from Sunbeam Fostering. We are provided with many interesting trainings and support group throughout the year which help us immensely.