North East Foster Care
“This is a fantastic company to work for. Lots of support, superb training. Always someone on the end of the phone if needed.”
In the heart of the North East
The North East foster care office was opened in 2017 to enable the joining of the previous two North East fostering (Newcastle and Darlington) services. We established the North-East services in 2000 and we are proud of the record of stability of our placements and the achievements of our children and young people for this region. Our priority remains that of providing our carers with the support, training and guidance they need to foster with confidence. Bringing the two services together has further provided the opportunity to share the skills of our social work staff and our carers, offering the children and young people we support, our carers and our Local Authority partners the opportunity for even greater placement opportunities. Our Durham office boasts a central location and we continue to provide local venues in Newcastle and Darlington to aid local carer support groups and training.
Who works in the North East?
Management Team
Kathryn Hayes
Registered Manager
Kathryn qualified as a Social Worker in 2007 and in 2010, she moved into fostering as a Supervising Social Worker, later progressing to the role of Registered Manager at an Independent Fostering Agency. Kathryn is committed to delivering a service that provides vulnerable children and young people with safe and nurturing placements with foster carers who are passionate about what they do.
Alison Lawson
Deputy Manager
Alison began her social work career with the Children’s Society in the North East before working for North Tyneside Council as a Residential Child Care Officer and then as a Training and Development Consultant for an Independent Fostering Agency. Alison has post qualifications in social work, management, mediation and youth justice.
Supervising Social Workers
These are the people that offer help and support to our foster carers, meeting periodically to discuss problems, successes and everything in between.
Andy Himlin
Jane Groom
Laura Holburn
Anna Logan
Megan Bannister
Placement Workers
These are the people that offer emotional and practical support to young people, ensuring the safeguarding and smooth running of placement.
Rachel Willis
Chantelle Drew
Health & Education Advisors
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.
Helen Preston
Jonathan Ord
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.
Donna Fenwick
Ruth Shute
Commercial Team
The Swiis Foster Care Durham team is 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
Our placement team ensure that each child or young person is closely match to the best carer.
Nirali Patel
Daisy Goudie
Florence Whelon
Federica Foti
Stacey Slipper
Recruitment Team
Ashley Holcombe
Sarah Kitson
Emily Saunders
Rhiannon Watts
Support Group
Our foster carers and staff attend a support group every month. The support group is a two-way process, with staff providing a welcome to new carers and then sharing information and updates. The carers have an opportunity to talk to each other and share ideas and strategies to manage challenging situations.
Moving Forward
Young people who have left Swiis Foster Care are encouraged to stay in touch with us and some go on to help with ‘Moving Forward’ workshops, sharing their experiences with young people about the reality of moving on and living independently.
Training locations
We can adapt to locations and accessibility where necessary for our clients/customers.
Durham
Our Durham foster care office lies between Newcastle and Darlington and has great transport links to surrounding areas. The building is a modern light building with friendly staff and free parking.
Newcastle
The Newcastle training facility is at the Kingston Park Stadium. These facilities have won three prestigious accolades at the Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards. Our Newcastle training facility has ample free parking, state of the art function rooms and is situated within easy reach of the A1, Newcastle International Airport and the Tyne & Wear Metro.
Darlington
The Darlington training facility is at Lingfield Point. This historic building was originally built as the Patons and Baldwins wool factory, constructed in the 1940s when two entrepreneurs created a flagship manufacturing base for their world-famous knitting yarn company. This training facility boasts good rail and road access and free parking.
Areas Covered Include:
Northumberland | Berwick | Alnwick | Morpeth | Ashington | Blyth | Cramlington | Hexham | Prudhoe | Gateshead | North Tyneside | North Shields | Whitely Bay | Newcastle upon Tyne | Tyne & Wear | Gosforth | Throckley | South Tyneside | South Shields | Jarrow | Sunderland | Washington | County Durham | Teesside | Middlesbrough | Stockton | Redcar & Cleveland | Barnard Castle | Billingham | Ingelby Barwick | Hartlepool | Durham | Spennymoor | Darlington | Richmond | Thirsk | Scarbrough | Harrogate | Whitby
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?
