“Amazing! You guys do a super job, the support we have had has been brilliant! Thanks to the Yorkshire team.” Emma, Swiis Foster Carer, Yorkshire.
In the heart of Yorkshire
The Yorkshire service was initially part of the North West service which was founded in October 2005 and was housed in Old Trafford, Manchester. The Yorkshire service became a stand-alone in October 2010 and it is based in West Leeds and Sheffield with large training rooms, free parking and meeting rooms. The offices are located in a business park in Wortley, Leeds and The Parkway, Sheffield both serviced well by public transport.
Who works in Yorkshire?
Management Team
Claire Hobson
Registered Manager
Claire's goal is to provide children and young people placed with Swiis a safe and nurturing home where they are accepted and have people around them who are creative, dynamic and aspire for them to succeed. Claire is responsible for the social work team, as well as the overall safeguarding and wellbeing of all the children and young people placed with carers in Yorkshire.
Amanda Stringer
Deputy Manager
Since joining Swiis Amanda has experienced the positives that Swiis services have been able to offer and seen the successful progress & outcomes children & young people have made. Amanda is passionate about the work she does and enjoys supporting & guiding foster carers in their fostering journey.
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.
Sarah Arblaster
Michelle Evers
Vanessa Ring
Michelle Smith
Adele Searle
Kieran Owen
Nadia Rennie
Placement Support Officers
Placement support officers plan and organise Swiis activities, 1-1 and group sessions with children and young people; these are important to help them gain new positive experiences, help promote and develop their self-esteem, confidence, independence and support in placement stability.
Alison Strodder-Murphy
Lauren Parker
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.
Melissa Wilson
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.
Debra Broadbent
Zoe Cawthorne
Kate Green
Commercial Team
The Swiis Foster Care Leeds & Sheffield 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.
Commercial Management Team
Paul Jamieson
Jill Notchell
Ashley Holcombe
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
Joel Gould
Bryony Ferris
Rebecca Hewitt
Recruitment Team
Sarah Kitson
Emily Saunders
Rhiannon Payne
Beth Jones-Grimshaw
Kate Godwin
Support Group
We hold monthly carer support groups at our Leeds & Sheffield Office. Carers are welcome to attend both groups and we arrange guest speakers from backgrounds of the Police, Education, Drug Awareness Teams and Fostering Networks to come and talk with carers and staff about key topics current in the media to help support our understanding and work with the children and young people we care for.
We offer a “buddy” system, whereby pre-approved and experienced foster carers meet informally to offer support and mentoring.
We also have dedicated groups for our carers’ own children who are given the opportunity if they choose, to share experiences as ‘children who foster’ and are recognised for the real difference they make in their fostering families. These groups are being established in Leeds and Sheffield & are run by our Placement Support Workers & Social Workers.
Children’s achievements are recognised through “well done” cards and certificates, as well as special mentions in the Yorkshire Swiis newsletter.
Training locations
Leeds
The training at Leeds is held at our main office in Wortley and offers free parking.
Sheffield
The training at Sheffield is held at our office in The Parkway, Sheffield and offers free parking.
Local initiatives
We have strong ties within the community, with direct links to local safeguarding boards and other agencies, such as the Child Sexual Exploitation service, Blast Project, that Swiis carers and staff join up with in order to utilise free, local and up-to-date training.
Areas Covered Include:
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?
