23 May 2014

Chief Social Worker pays tribute to foster carers

The Chief Social Worker for Children and Families in England pays tribute to foster carers and believes they need less watching and more helping.

Speaking at the National Fostering Agency Group's annual conference in Coventry, Isabelle Trowler said that the contribution of foster carers who are instrumental in helping children is “simply breathtaking.’’

Ms Trowler went on to say that it is right though that we pause for thought and consider what could be done differently.

She said: “I have watched since I qualified a much more defensive culture develop across organisations. Too often the lives of children are determined by process and not judgement. We can easily become disconnected from the reality of the lives of the families that we work with.”

Ms Trowler said that more responsibility should be given to foster carers and spoke of the need to create a culture in which we properly trust the people to whom we entrust our most vulnerable children.

Iain Anderson, Group Chief Executive of the NFA said “As one of the country’s largest employers of Social Workers we were delighted that Isabelle was able to take the time to speak at our national conference to reinforce the importance of the human connection from Social Workers and remind us all of the joint responsibility we all have towards these very vulnerable and impressionable children and young people. 

“Our teams in England were delighted with the appointment of a Chief Social Worker for children and families and the recognition of the opportunities for positive development this will bring into the future”

Notes to Editors

• NFA Group, established since 1996, provides professional fostering services to Local Authorities throughout the United Kingdom to make a real difference to the quality of life to those vulnerable children and young people it supports.

For further information:                
Alan Rustad
AR Communications
alan@ar-comms.com
Tel: 0844 585 5959/07976 722726

Andrew Isaac
Marketing & PR Director
National Fostering Agency
Tel: 01895 200300