Our dedicated Education Service ensures that all our young people are provided with educational opportunities in alignment with their age, ability and needs. Read our latest Education Service Bulletin below. Education Health and Care Plan Training TACT are running Education Health and Care Plan Training (EHCP) this month for all its staff and foster carers. An Education Health and Care Plan is often put in place within schools if a young person has special educational needs (SEN). The plan is there to identify these specific needs, and then to detail the additional support required for those n ..read more

Does past trauma impact on the educational attainment of care-experienced young people? If so, in what way? Are trauma-informed educational approaches available to all, or is it a postcode lottery? To start with, we need to look at the problem. According to GOV.UK, there were 263,904 school suspensions during the 2022-23 school year. This was an increase from 201,090 the previous year. Permanent exclusions, i.e. when a pupil is removed from a school permanently and their name is taken off the school roll, increased from 2,179 in 2021-22 to 3,039 in 2022-23. Whilst these statistics are not brok ..read more

Our dedicated Education Service ensures that all our young people are provided with educational opportunities in alignment with their age, ability and needs. Read our latest Education Service Bulletin below. Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children Tuition Group Our weekly tuition group for our foster carers has been in place for a few weeks now, and feedback so far has been very positive. We would encourage any of our foster carers who are providing care for unaccompanied Asylum seeking children to contact our Education Service, as school-ready bags and home-language education leaflets are avail ..read more

Foster Care Fortnight is the annual campaign that shines a positive light on foster care. Established by The Fostering Network in 1997, it is a celebration of the dedication and commitment of foster carers across the UK. It is also a call to action, raising awareness of the need for new people with caring dispositions to help make a difference to children’s lives. The theme of Foster Care Fortnight 2024, which runs from 13th-26th May, is ‘fostering moments’; those instances, big or small, that create memories and help young people to begin a recovery from past trauma. In short, those moments t ..read more

The UK home office defines unaccompanied asylum-seeking children as young people under 18 years old, who are applying for asylum, are separated from both parents, and are not in the care of a guardian. Usually aged between 13 and 17, they will have travelled independently into the UK to seek asylum from war and persecution. That is the UK home office definition. Here at TACT, we see frightened, disorientated and vulnerable young people who had to leave their own country, their families, friends and everything they owned and cared for. Providing a secure base to enable them to recover from past ..read more

Siblings Day marks an opportunity to celebrate the close bonds that exist between brothers and sisters, while also highlighting the important need for more foster carers who are able to look after sibling groups. First and foremost, fostering siblings helps keep brothers and sisters together. Children coming into care have often had traumatic experiences and been through more family dysfunction than they should have at their age. Siblings are often the only constant support network and consistent presence that young people in care have and therefore when siblings are placed together they retai ..read more

Books about fostering can be hugely informative, promoting inclusivity and highlighting the diversity of the family unit. But they can also provide children in care with scenarios and accounts that may be aligned to their own experiences. With the potential to be a guiding and reassuring light at a time of upheaval and past trauma, the value of such publications cannot be overstated. However, navigating a narrative path through the ups and downs of foster care in fiction can be sensitive and activating for some young people. Plotlines may be too similar to life events, or just too soon in a ch ..read more

Neurodiversity Celebration Week is taking place between 18th – 24th March 2024. The week is a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. It aims to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported by providing the opportunity to recognise the many talents and advantages of being neurodivergent.   What is Neurodiversity? Neurodiversity is an umbrella term used to describe alternative thinking styles. Some of the conditions that are most common among those who describe themselves as neurodivergent include Dyslexia ..read more

In foster care, there are many professionals who work to provide care and support for young people. Foster carers, and the truly amazing things they do each day for children in their care, are at the forefront of this support network. However, to facilitate, regulate and oversee this care, social workers are essential. There are two categories of social worker involved in foster care: a Child’s Social Worker and a Supervising Social Worker. How do the social worker roles differ? A Child’s Social Worker, as the name suggests, will work solely in the best interests of a child in care. They will ..read more

This year’s International Women’s Day is all about inspiring inclusion, and is a celebration of the empowerment and global achievements of women. At TACT, our commitment to gender equality and inclusion is sewn into the very fabric of who we are. Our ongoing weekly wellbeing workshops for our staff include sessions on subjects such as menopause support, with regular drop-in ‘cafes’ that staff can join. Other sessions include supporting female health with nutrition, support through miscarriage and menstrual cycle in the work place. In addition to the menopause support we offer via our wellbeing ..read more