Support Workers
At Family Works Fostering, we understand that foster carers need more than training and supervision — they need practical, consistent, and reliable support. That’s why every foster carer is supported by dedicated support workers, whose role is to help carers and children thrive together.
Our support workers play a vital part in ensuring placements remain stable, well-supported, and child-focused, giving foster carers confidence and reassurance in their role.
What Do Our Support Workers Do?
Our support workers provide hands-on assistance to both foster carers and children, helping to ease day-to-day pressures and ensure children receive the care and consistency they need.
Practical Support for Foster Carers
Support workers can assist with a wide range of practical tasks, including:
- Transporting children to and from contact sessions and family time
- Supporting school runs for children in care
- Providing help during training events, support groups, and carer meetings
- Offering respite support when carers need additional assistance
- Helping maintain routines during busy or challenging periods
This support allows foster carers to focus on building strong, nurturing relationships with the children in their care.
Consistency and Stability for Children
Children in care benefit enormously from consistency. Our support workers work closely with foster carers and other professionals to ensure children experience stable routines and familiar faces, especially during periods of transition. By supporting children both inside and outside the foster home, our team helps create a sense of safety, trust, and continuity — essential for emotional wellbeing.
Our Step-Up, Step-Down Model of Care
Family Works Fostering has developed a step-up, step-down model of service delivery, designed to meet the changing needs of children and young people.
How the Model Works
- Step-Up: When a child requires specialised or intensive support, they may be temporarily placed in a children’s home to receive targeted services.
- Step-Down: Once their needs can be safely managed within a family environment, the child transitions into foster care.
Our support workers play a key role during both stages of this journey.
The Role of Support Workers in Transitions
Support workers support children during both step-up and step-down placements, ensuring:
- Familiar faces remain involved throughout transitions
- Children feel reassured during changes in their care setting
- Relationships are maintained, supporting emotional security
- Foster carers are well-prepared and supported before and after placements
This continuity helps children settle more quickly and thrive in family-based care, supported by staff they already know and trust.
Supporting Foster Carers to Succeed
Fostering is a team effort. Alongside your supervising social worker, our support workers are there to provide practical help, emotional reassurance, and flexibility when you need it most.
This wraparound approach helps reduce pressure on carers, promotes placement stability, and ensures that carers never feel alone.
Why Our Support Worker Model Makes a Difference
- Dedicated, familiar staff supporting both carers and children
- Practical help that reduces daily stress
- Increased stability and placement success
- Consistency across care settings
- A truly child-centred approach
Thinking About Becoming a Foster Carer?
At Family Works Fostering, our support workers are part of what makes our fostering service different. We don’t just place children — we support families, carers, and young people every step of the way. Call us on 01702 655738 or email us at admin@fw-fostering.co.uk
We’d be happy to answer your questions and explain how our support worker team can help you succeed as a foster carer.
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