“This is a fantastic company to work for. Lots of support, superb training. Always someone on the end of the phone if needed.”
Swiis Foster Care Midlands and South Region was originally set up in 2002 in Birmingham, and later in Bristol, South West in 2013. The Birmingham registered office covers the whole of the Midlands region whilst the Bristol hub office covers the South West and South East area, both serviced well by public transport.
We have over 150 fostering families in the Midlands and South Region and together with our expert team of social workers, placement support workers, education & health advisors and administrators , we have been rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted in October 2021.
We work with local authorities, spanning from Derby, Leicestershire, Dudley, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Sandwell, Solihull, Coventry, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Telford & Wrekin, Herefordshire, Worcestershire to Gloucestershire, Somerset, Bristol, Bath, Swindon, Dorset, Poole, Devon, Cornwall, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Southampton, Bournemouth, Isle of Wight, as well as the Inner and Outer London Boroughs to place children with our fostering families to provide a safe, secure and stable home.
Who works in the Midlands and South Region?
Management Team
Laurie Long
Director of Swiis Midlands and South
Laurie qualified as a social worker in 1995. Prior to joining Swiis, Laurie spent 12 years working in the voluntary sector; within NSPCC as Quality and Performance Manager and as Operational Director for Action for Children, responsible for fostering services in the south of England. Laurie has also been a foster carer.
Will Mallon
Team Manager
Will qualified as a Social Worker in 2007 and has over 10 years’ experience of working within both Local Authority and Independent Fostering Services.
Donnarissa Douglas
Team Manager
Donna Douglas is a Team Manager with Swiis, having been a qualified social worker for over 8 years.
Supervising Social Workers (Midlands)
These are the people that offer help and support to our foster carers, meeting periodically to discuss problems, successes and everything in between.
Zoe Chance
Megan Hayward
Chloe Clayton
Denise Brown
Melanie Hill
Stefani Gjevori
Roisheen Simmons
Fraju Sebastian
Sarah Akram
Supervising Social Workers (South Region)
These are the people that offer help and support to our foster carers, meeting periodically to discuss problems, successes and everything in between.
Clare McCarthy
Terry Goodwin
Health and Education Advisor
The Education workers role is to promote achievement and attainment, continuity of learning and stability in educational placement for children in permanent foster placements. The Health Advisors at Swiis are responsible for monitoring the health needs of children and young people placed with our foster carers. They also liaise with health professionals to ensure all information is available and provides training to carers regarding child health and development.
Gareth Thomas
Placement Workers
These are the people that offer emotional and practical support to young people, ensuring the safeguarding and smooth running of placement.
Georgia Jones
Leigharna McCulloch
Administrators
Administrators at Swiis not only look after the day-to-day requirements of the office, organize foster carer reviews and panel administration, but also act as the first point of contact to our carers and are an integral part of the team in ensuring all our carers are fully supported and very much a part of the Swiis family from the word go.
Sophie Cooper
Zoe Jones
Beata Olah-Wood
Flynn Donnelly
Commercial Team
The Swiis Foster Care Edgbaston & Bristol teams are supported by the Central Commercial team who are responsible for Marketing, Training and BM support, Recruitment of Foster Carers and matching and placement of our children and young people.
Behaviour Management
Swiis believe that supporting our foster carers well is essential to ensure the stability of the children and young people you care for and our social workers do an incredible job in providing that support to all carers.
Research and experience have however shown that children who experience trauma and separation in early childhood can have a turbulent and challenging adolescence and this may be a possible reason a placement can, at times, become unstable.
Swiis believe that our foster carers on occasion require additional support in understanding and learning techniques which would further assist in the management of difficult or challenging behaviours and have introduced an additional programme of support which our carers will be able to access
directly. The programme has been specifically designed to offer support and guidance to carers who experience behaviours from the child or young person in placement which they are finding difficult to manage.
The team consist of specialist training personnel who are responsible for delivering the Challenging Behaviour training as part of the mandatory foster carer training programme (or for new carers, this is undertaken as Day 4 of the preparation training), both cover MAPA based Challenging
Behaviour as part of the course content.
Foster carers can access The Behaviour Management Team directly to request support for individual carers who are experiencing problems with behavioural issues in placement. Calls from carers requesting support are managed via a dedicated admin team who will schedule a call back between the
carers and a member of the BM team as a matter of urgency.
Jordon Murdoch
Jackie White
Placement Team
The Placements Team will identify a suitable referral of a child or young person in need of a fostering placement that matches the Foster Carer's profile, the area they are based, approval range, family composition and fostering experience.
Nirali Patel
Florence Whelon
Stacey Slipper
Rhian Welch
Jackie Crisp
Recruitment Team
Ashley Holcombe
Sarah Kitson
Emily Saunders
Rhiannon Payne
Beth Jones-Grimshaw
Support Group
We currently have five Midlands Local Carer Groups based in:
- Birmingham;
- Stourbridge;
- Walsall;
- Staffordshire;
- Telford/Shrewsbury.
And three South Region local carer groups based in:
- London and the South East;
- The South West areas of Devon, Cornwall and Bristol;
- Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
Giving our new foster carers plenty of opportunity for finding a group close to their home.
These groups are for foster carers to get together and support each other, whether this is just to talk about their experiences of fostering or share transport or childcare for meetings and training. The lead person in each of our Local Carer Groups is called a “buddy” and they are the main contact for the group.
Training locations
Birmingham
We offer foster carer training in our main office in Edgbaston in the West Midlands which is a short walk from Five Ways train station. The venue offers good access to Motorways and the City Centre and has adjacent parking and Wi-Fi.
Telford
We also provide a Telford training facility in the heart of Telford, approximately 1 mile from the train station, within easy access for anyone living in the Shropshire/Wolverhampton area. This location is adjacent to the shopping centre and offers lots of parking in the area.
Bristol
Located in the Queens Square area of Bristol City centre on Prince Street, the new South region fully accessible office is purpose built to meet the needs of our foster carers with large meeting rooms and ample parking. Prince Street is easily accessed by public transport.
Devon
Situated just outside Exeter with easy access to the M5, the training facility is at a former Georgian Manor.
Dorset
The training facility for Dorset is at Allendale House which is a Georgian building owned by the East Dorset Heritage Trust. It’s located in a small attractive market town in the heart of Dorset. Easy to get to for those travelling from Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole and Salisbury areas.
Office Information
WHO WORKS HERE
Registered Managers
Social Workers
Placement Support Workers
Education Advisors
Administration Team
Start Your Fostering Journey
With thousands of children coming into foster care in the UK everyday, we urgently need foster carers more than ever.
Refer a Friend
Do you know anyone who would be a fantastic foster carer who has the skills and compassion to support a child or young person in need of a loving home?
