Fostering agency seeks to expand services
An independent fostering agency which has over 30 years of experience across the UK is expanding its services into the Bath area.
ISP Fostering, which provides specialist therapeutic support and services to vulnerable young people in care, is looking to grow a local team of compassionate and dedicated foster parents to help them build better futures for the children they care for.
In the UK, the number of children and young people seeking foster parents has grown by 44 per cent since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
With reports showing there are over 6,140 children in care across the South West with 186 in need across Bath and North East Somerset alone, ISP hopes its expansion will help decrease this number and find the right homes and families for these young people.
In response to the growing number of children in care and the increase of fostering enquiries across the agency, ISP will be hosting weekly online sessions allowing individuals to learn all about fostering with the aim of encouraging those individuals and families to consider becoming foster parents.
The new service, which plans to open a local centre next year, will be under the Sussex registration, managed by Emma Hannett and supported by Susie Pickett from the Hampshire and Dorset centre.
Emma, ISP registered manager, said: “I am so thrilled that we are expanding our services into the Bath area. Our main aim has always been and always will be to help transform as many lives of the UK’S most vulnerable children in care.
“Here at ISP, we care for children and young people who haven’t been given the best starts in life; many have suffered some kind of trauma.
“Our foster parents are provided with specialist training that enables them to provide a therapeutic environment where children and young people can heal from these negative past experiences.
“Since the beginning, we’ve always placed our foster parents and the children they care for at the centre of our organisation and surround them with a blanket of professional support, so foster parents have everything they need to rebuild lives and transform futures.
“These ‘wrap-around’ services include access to our in-house and qualified therapists, educational experts and fostering advisors, as well as ongoing professional training and an opportunity to gain professional qualifications too.”
As the UK’S first therapeutic fostering agency, ISP and its team of foster parents have helped to rebuild the lives of thousands of children and young people across the country and hope to achieve incredible outcomes for children within the Bath area too.
During the pandemic, ISP has adapted to provide virtual support to existing and prospective foster parents with home visits and assessments being held virtually.
If potential applicants wish to learn more, ISP is encouraging individuals to join their weekly Thursday evening sessions where they will be able to learn more about fostering as a whole and ask any questions. To register interest, follow this link: https://ispfostering.org.uk/resources/events.
For more information about becoming a foster parent, visit https://ispfostering.org.uk or call the friendly team on 0800 0857989.