The Foster Carers Have Your Say Forum

The new format of the Have Your Say Forum is working well.

The forum is set up where Trafford foster carers get together once a month with managers from the service to talk about new developments. The foster carers elect their own chairperson and vice chairperson for one year of office. Currently the chairperson is Roger Finn with Sarah de la Hoyde as vice chair.

The forum is a formal setting for foster carers where they set the agenda with the service to ask questions of senior managers at Trafford. The agendas can be regarding policies, training, updates and they can also offer advice where we think change needs to occur to enable a better quality of fostering care.

The meetings take place at the Town Hall and are currently monthly but will move to every two months in September.

Attendance by foster carers is excellent. Because of the diverse range of foster carers with many different skill sets, it allows a true and frank discussion on all points that appear on the agenda.

Foster carers find out at these meetings which steering groups are currently running or just about to be set up, and which ones they will be invited to sit on and offer a full contribution too. There is no shortage of volunteers for these groups, which once again highlights the passion and commitment that Trafford foster carers have.

There is usually a guest speaker that tackles the latest changes, reports, in regards any part of fostering. You will appreciate that Ofsted is the main topic of serious discussions on both sides at the moment. The forum allows a frank discussion to take place from both Trafford’s attendees and foster carers, which we are grateful for.