Autumn achievements and announcements

Following our quarterly newsletter for our foster families at Aspris, we’re sharing some highlights from the autumn months.

The Worcestershire Health and Social Care Awards

Congratulations again to Andrea and Aiden following the recent Worcestershire Health and Social Care Awards. The awards ceremony celebrates and shines a light on all of those who contribute to the health and wellbeing of others throughout Worcestershire. Andrea and Aiden were nominated in recognition of the care, support and dedication shown to a young person in their care, over and above what would reasonably be expected. Although they didn’t win their nominated category, the Child and Adolescent Healthcare Award, they are absolute winners to us, and we are very proud of them. Andrea and Aiden are seen in the photo to the right - congratulations!

We’re proud to have been rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted

As you know, we had our Ofsted inspection in August and we are happy to report that we were rated ‘Good’ overall. The findings of Ofsted regarding the care delivered by you, our foster carers, was overwhelmingly positive. The dedication and commitment to children in your care shone through and was rightly recognised.

Ofsted said: “Foster carers are committed to meeting children’s individual needs. As a result, the children are making good progress living with their foster families. Foster carers speak positively about the support provided to the children by the agency staff.”

“The achievements of the children and foster carers are recognised and celebrated.”

To read the full report, please click here.

Announcements – our team is growing

We are very happy to welcome two new members to our fostering team – Izzy and Debi.

Izzy joined us in October as our Fostering Support Worker. Prior to joining Aspris, Izzy worked as a Support Worker within residential services, specialising in supporting individuals with autism and other complex needs.

Izzy has a real passion for supporting people to achieve the best possible outcomes using a supportive and individually tailored approach. Izzy said the following: “Having grown up in a family that fostered young people, becoming directly involved in supporting young people and foster carers is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. My time with Aspris so far has been mostly spent soaking up as much knowledge as possible, and it’s been fantastic to be surrounded by such an experienced and committed team.

“In my spare time, I’m very much an ‘outdoorsy’ person and I adore animals. You will most likely find me in a muddy field walking my dog, Stanley. I can’t wait to get out to meet you our foster carers and start putting my knowledge and experience into practice, and I’m very excited about getting lots of fun activities in the diary throughout the rest of this year and next – watch this space!”

We were also excited to welcome Debi to our merry band in November as our dedicated Fostering Administrator and Referrals Coordinator.

Debi will become well known to you all and is the first point of contact for you at the beating heart of our agency. Debi said the following: “I have a kind, caring nature and really passionate about helping people. I have many years’ experience working as an administrator, several of which have been within fostering. I am excited about joining the team at Aspris Fostering Services and I am looking forward to meeting our foster carers.”

Celebrating achievements

Please join us in celebrating the recent achievements of our children and young people. Huge congratulations, which include:

• Fantastic recent GCSE results and enrolment in a new college course
• A young person becoming a year 11 anti-bullying ambassador
• A parents’ player of the match in a football game
• An achievement of a Level 2 Leadership qualification with the Cadets
• One child winning the Halloween dance competition
• One completed Stage 2 bike ability course
• A child starting swimming lessons and becoming a more confident swimmer!

A celebratory recognition award voucher was sent to each child and young person.

Check back in the new year for further achievements and celebrations from Aspris Fostering Services.