Bucks Council - Meet The Carers and start your fostering or adoption journey

New from Buckinghamshire Council

Anyone interested in finding out more about fostering or adoption in Bucks should take advantage of a unique opportunity to chat directly to those already doing it, as part of a new Meet the Carer event being hosted by Buckinghamshire Council later this month.

Taking place in Aylesbury on Wednesday 22 February, the event is open to anyone who may be thinking about either fostering or adoption. In addition to the opportunity to meet some existing foster carers and people who have adopted children in Buckinghamshire, the event will be attended by staff from the council’s fostering and adoption service who will be on hand to offer information and advice.

Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services explained the purpose of the event. She said: “We know that anyone thinking about fostering or adoption will have many questions to ask. What better way of getting answers to those questions and finding out more detail about the whole process and experience, than speaking directly to those who have already been through it?”

The event is open to anyone who would like to find out more about the process of fostering or adoption. The aim is to give people a valuable insight into the journey, details of both the challenges and also the joys of helping a child or children to grow and develop in a new home as well as give those interested in finding out more, the opportunity to ask whatever questions they have, direct to the experts.

Teams and carers will be available at the following times:

• 12 to 2pm – Meet the adoption team and Bucks adopters
• 10am to 4pm – Meet the fostering team and Bucks foster carers

Anita added: "At any one time we have several children and young people in need of a loving home, either in temporary foster care or those looking to be adopted into a permanent new family. We also know there are many people out there who may be thinking about fostering or adopting but haven’t yet taken that first step, so this is the perfect opportunity to put those thoughts into actions and find out more.”

The Meet the Carer event is open to anyone with a genuine interest in knowing more about fostering and adoption in Buckinghamshire. To register your interest and get full details of the event contact:

• The adoption team on: adoption@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
• The fostering team on: fosterwithbucks@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Buckinghamshire Council has developed two handy online tools to help people create a personalised plan for things to do to get ready for their fostering or adoption journey.

• Use our FosteringReady tool
• Use our AdoptionReady tool