North Ayrshire council officially recognised for work promoting foster care

Council chiefs have been officially recognised for their work in promoting foster care.

More people are being encouraged to sign up for guardianship.

North Ayrshire Council has been recognised as a Fostering Friendly Employer.

The council has updated their Special Leave Scheme to give greater flexibility to staff for exploring fostering opportunities.

Employees who are foster carers (or who are interested in becoming foster carers), as well as kinship carers, can now benefit from the time off detailed below:

Assessment and initial training prior to approval as a foster carer – maximum three days
Attendance at panel for approval – maximum one day.
Child review meetings, annual foster carer review meeting and training – up to five days.
North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership are currently seeking foster carers, with a range of options available including short break care, supported care, interim fostering and longer-term fostering for young people.
If you would like some more information, please email the team: adfosenquiry@northayrshire.gov.uk or call 01294 310300 (option 4 then option 1).
You can also find out more on the NAHSCP website.

Meanwhile, a pan-Ayrshire showcase event, sharing examples of innovation in health and social care from across Scotland and beyond, was held recently.

Focusing on two perspectives on innovation from the Scottish health and social care sector, the attendees heard from Nate Brown, Innovation Programme Lead, East Ayrshire HSCP and Brendan Clarke, Digital Learning Lead, NHS Education for Scotland.

Alexia Pellowe from East Ayrshire HSCP talked about the Holly Health App, Laura Gordon from Inverclyde HSCP showcased their newly-launched Health Visiting App and Nigel Gallear from Simon Community also shared feedback on their Get Connected App.