Foster carers sought by historic Scottish charity, Carolina House Trust

Scotland’s oldest children’s charity, Carolina House Trust, is currently recruiting new foster carers to support young people in Dundee, Angus, Fife, Clackmannanshire and Aberdeenshire. Their recruitment campaign runs from January to March and leads into ‘Skills To Foster’ training beginning on 8th March. The charity will be visiting shopping centres, supermarkets and large employers to raise awareness of their organisation and inspire potential carers.

From their headquarters in Dundee, Carolina House Trust place young people with foster carers, supported lodgings carers as well as offering residential care. More than 5,000 children across Scotland live with foster families and Carolina House Trust have many more referrals made to them than they have carers. Being a foster carer is a hugely rewarding, but demanding, role. Nurturing a young person in a safe environment and supporting them to reach their potential can transform their life.

The charity support foster carers with a supervising social worker, training, peer support, 24/7 on-call support and provide a remuneration package for approved carers. Young people placed with our foster carers can benefit from support from our placement support workers, therapeutic input and have access to a programme of events.

Foster carers must be over the age of 21 and have a spare bedroom. Foster caring is a full-time role and the main carer cannot have other employment. Applicants are assessed and provided with training as part of an approval process that can take up to six months. This ensures the individual is confident in their decision to be a foster carer and the charity can be certain that they can offer a safe and positive home environment for young people.

Carolina House Trust Foster Carer, Emma and her husband are the charity’s newest carers. Emma said, “We were lucky enough to spend the first year of married life travelling. We had some incredible experiences but also witnessed extreme poverty which had a big impact on us, especially its effects on young children. We agreed that family isn't always blood and that if we could help give a home to a child who needs it, that would be more than enough for us. After I had two children, I was looking to return to work, but had no interest in returning to being a PA. I love being a stay at home mum and was upset at the idea of not being there for them as much. Our house has a spare room that is barely used, so I suggested to my husband that we become a foster family. He jumped at the idea and here we are providing a foster home to a child for the first time. There's been lots of fun and quite a few tears as the children all adjust but it's the best decision we've ever made.”