“Anyone thinking of fostering, give Swiis a call. Fantastic agency, excellent training and brilliant support.” Ian, Swiis Foster Carer, North West.
In the heart of the North West
The Swiis North West fostering service was founded in October 2000 and was initially based in Manchester city centre before relocating to Old Trafford Manchester in September 2009. The office is located just two miles from Manchester centre and is serviced well by public transport. The site also has ample free parking for staff and visitors.
Swiis opened an additional office in Lancashire in 2010 which is home to our Lancashire-based foster care support workers. The office is within the attractive St Mary’s Chambers building and is a stone’s throw from Whitaker Park in Rawtenstall.
Who works in the North West?
Management Team
Wendy Keillor
Registered Manager
Wendy has a wealth of experience through various social work settings, including fostering and adoption teams within Local Authorities. As the Registered Manager, Wendy is responsible for the social work team, as well as the overall safeguarding and well-being of all the children and young people placed with carers in the North West.
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.
Sherry Waugh
Rebecca Marshall
Bernice Quarshie
Nadia Rennie
Kelly Winter
Placement Workers
These are the people that offer emotional and practical support to young people, ensuring the safeguarding and smooth running of placement.
Charlie Pare
Rachel Hallsworth
Health and 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.
Lynne Mackin
Linda Cunningham
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.
Emily Hare
Jade Porterburns
Commercial Team
The Swiis Foster Care Manchester 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
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 hold support groups for carers on a bi-monthly basis, including two ‘Forward Together’ groups. Our ‘Forward Together’ groups give looked after young people aged 13+ a chance to share their experiences of fostering and to join in with activities focussing on developing self-esteem and independence.
Every year we host a fun day for all our carers, children and young people, including a variety of activities and games, as well as a BBQ. We also have an annual Christmas party, open to all carers, children and young people. These events give our carers, their families and the Swiis staff a chance to interact and socialise with each other, as well as sharing their fostering experiences.
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.
Areas Covered Include:
Blackpool | Bolton | Blackpool | Bury | Cheshire East | Cheshire West and Chester | Halton | Knowsley | Liverpool | Manchester | Oldham | Rochdale | Salford | Sefton | Stockport | Tameside | Trafford | Warrington | Wirral | Wigan
Training locations
We can adapt to locations and accessibility where necessary for our clients/customers.
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?
