Meet a fostering agency that truly cares
Being a foster parent can be a hugely rewarding experience. But it’s important to get the right support, every step of the way.
UK’s Independent Fostering Agency
Family Works Fostering is an independent fostering agency based in Southend-on‑Sea, Essex. We specialise in providing first-class caring services for children and young people aged 0–18 — whether planned, emergency, respite or intensive foster care placements.
We partner with experienced foster parents and qualified staff to ensure children are supported to grow and thrive in a nurturing environment.
Why Foster with Us?
Life-changing Impact
We provide a safe and loving home to children in need. Fostering is as rewarding for you as it is for the child.
Tailored, Child-first Approach
We focus on emotional, social and educational wellbeing, offering individual care packages to meet each child’s unique needs.
Inclusive and Welcoming
We welcome applicants of any race, gender or sexuality and assess suitability with fairness and rigour.
Benefits of fostering with Family Works
- Financial Support & Respite: Competitive allowances and up to 14 days of respite care each year to recognise your commitment and ensure you have time to recharge.
- Round-the-Clock Professional Support: 24/7 access to experienced social workers, crisis response, and a dedicated supervising social worker offering personalised guidance.
- Community & Peer Connection: Join a welcoming network of carers through regular events, peer support groups, lunch meetups, and a buddy mentoring scheme for new foster carers.
- Comprehensive Training & Development: Benefit from ongoing face-to-face and online training, Video Interactive Guidance, and free memberships with Foster Talk and The Fostering Network.
Our Fostering Services
We deliver a range of placement types including:
Fostering with us
We don’t expect anyone to foster without the right support and training. So we offer the best there is.
New to fostering?
Fostering is an amazing and rewarding journey that can turn a child’s life around. It could even change yours too.
We wanted to answer some common questions, and help get you started:
For young people
As well as being somewhere you can access information and contact FWF workers you can also find links to homework help and other useful sites.
All about us
We strives to provide safe, stable and first class foster care where children and young people are valued, supported and encouraged to grow and develop as individuals.
Community: From the blog
- Breaking placements – when it seems impossible to stay
By Dr Jane Herd. First published in Foster, Issue 13, 2022. Complex processes come into play when a child must leave their foster home, particularly when this comes to pass because the foster carers feel they can no longer manage to maintain the child in their care. This article offers a tool for considering … - How to handle celebrations as a foster parent.
Holidays can be difficult for children in foster care. If a child has never experienced the holidays nor the traditions that come along with them, they may feel out of place or uncomfortable. It might also trigger the children to think back to their own family — what they never had or what they’ve … - Becoming a Foster Parent – What’s Really Involved?
Are you considering fostering but are unsure what it would involve and what will be expected of you? Will you simply be taking in children and looking after them until they leave, or is there more to it than that? - How to help your foster child with school
Unfortunately, a large proportion of children in foster care are still likely to experience problems in school. The reasons for this are several; from a difficult home life to movement between different schools during key stages of childhood, foster children absolutely need extra support to help them achieve academic success. - The role of a Foster Carer
Foster carers offer children and young people a safe and caring home when they are unable to live with their birth family. This is often a child’s first positive experience of family life.
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