Voices of Fostering

Tim - A CEO's View on Foster Care

• National Fostering Group • Season 4 • Episode 37

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In this episode of Voices of Fostering, experienced foster carers Travis and Marisol sit down with Tim Barclay, CEO of National Fostering Group, for an honest conversation about the realities of foster care—from both sides.

Discover how carer feedback shapes decisions at the highest level, why innovations like Magic Notes are transforming supervising social worker visits, and what it's like to advocate for children facing increasingly complex needs.

Travis and Marisol don't hold back—they share what's working, what's challenging, and why resilience and authenticity matter so much in fostering. Tim opens up about staying grounded, the importance of support groups, and how National Fostering Group is fighting for better resources from local authorities and other health services.

Key Topics:
✅ How carer feedback drives real change
✅ The game-changing Magic Notes innovation
✅ Supporting children with complex needs
✅ Navigating local authority challenges
✅ Why foster carer support groups matter
✅ What makes a great supervising social worker relationship
✅ The future of foster care support

Whether you're a foster carer, thinking about fostering, or work in the care sector, this conversation offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at how fostering agencies can truly put carers and children first.

If you would like to find out more about fostering please visit our website here.

If you have any questions that you would like to be answered on our next episode email podcast@nfa.co.uk

You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin and YouTube

Helen:

Hello and welcome to this episode of Voices of Fostering. Now we're gonna have a very full studio today as we're joined by Foster carers, Travis and Marisol, and our Chief Executive of National Fostering Group, Tim Barclay. Now Travis has been a foster carer with one of our Northwest fostering agencies. Fostering solutions since 2015. He previously worked in a corporate role and then he joined the police for a brief time. He's now a full-time foster carer and he's a strong advocate for children, young people, and foster carers alike, and he loves to have open and meaningful conversations about. The care sector. Marisol joined fostering relations in Scotland back in 2020. She's worked in hospitality for most of her career, as well as studying music at the conservatoire of Music of Bahar, California. She's a choral singer who's performed in prestigious international music festivals at Disneyland, and most recently at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the OVO Hydro supporting skipping ish. Wow. She's venturing into starting her own choir called Heartland Voices with choir director Alec Gartener. Marisol's, a strong promoter of fostering, particularly in Scotland, and loves to break the mold when it comes to your typical foster carer. Now Tim Barclay, our CEO, he joined National Fostering Group as chief executive, bringing senior leadership experience from across the health and social care sector. He's passionate about strengthening, fostering services and ensuring children and young people get the right support to thrive in family settings. Tim's focus is on collaboration, quality, and making a positive last. Difference for foster carers and the children they care for. So thank you so much to all of them for joining us today. Marisol and Travis will be chatting with Tim about National Fostering Group to give listeners a real sense of what it's like. To be chief executive, what support looks like for foster carers and national fostering group? How carers feedback is heard and used to shape the organization. And for anyone thinking about fostering that might be you. What usually inspires people to start, what the journey involves and what to expect when choosing an agency. The podcast episode will give you a clear sense of our mission and values and how national fostering groups supports foster carers and children. It's a chance to hear directly what makes us different and why joining matters. So let's enjoy this conversation with Tim, LED by Travis and Marisol.

Travis:

Okay, so we've got Tim here with us, who is the CEO of the National Fostering Group. So Tim, thanks for coming. The first question I wanna ask you, what is the reality like being a CEO?

Tim:

So the first thing is it, it's like exactly the opposite way around. You know, I, I'm the one who's humbled. To be with foster carers and I, I have this experience wherever I go. Every, so yesterday I was in the Northwest with, um, a group of our foster carers at one of our new offices, and I'm the one who feels inauthentic. Like I'm the one who feels that I'm, I'm being done a favor rather than I'm doing people a favor turning up. So I, I always find it odd where people make a fuss, um, or, or are even grateful I've showed up. Yeah, just to, to answer your question though, what's it like? So I mean, it's an absolute privilege. It is an absolute privilege, but like a lot of privileges, it comes with a fair amount of responsibility and I get the joy. The satisfaction of helping two and a half thousand foster carers make a profound difference to three and a half thousand children. And I get the, the pain and, and misery when that doesn't go as well as it might do. So I, I don't pretend in any way I get it as strongly as those who are really experiencing it, but it's, uh, it's an emotional rollercoaster. Yeah. But I, I just absolutely love it. On the whole,

Marisol:

anytime you want some firsthand experience, come over to mine.

Tim:

Yeah. And this is the thing, right? This is exactly exactly why I meet so many carers. Because you've got to stay grounded with what the realities of the role are.

Marisol:

Absolutely.

Travis:

So when you make a decision at a senior level. How do foster carers experience shape your choices?

Tim:

Well, I don't think there's anything else we do as an organization that isn't about foster carers. I mean, it, we don't exist for any other purpose. Mm-hmm. Uh, other than to help foster carers make a difference to children's lives. Now, does that mean we get it right all the time? No. No, of course not. To your question, listening to what foster carers think, feel, want is, is the most important way we understand what we should be shaping about the, the direction the organization goes in.

Travis:

Absolutely. It's no such thing as failure, only feedback. It's true that isn't

Tim:

it? Well it if feedback is a gift. Yeah. I was taught and you know, we don't always love it. I don't love it at home when my wife gives it to me. I don't necessarily love it when my children give it to me. And I definitely, definitely don't always love it when colleagues and carers give it to me. But you've gotta listen and you've gotta learn and you've got to take it on board. It's men and, and this is the most important thing, whichever bit of carer feedback we get, it is always meant with a spirit of positive intent. Yeah. People want us to try and do a better job.

Travis:

Yeah, absolutely. Um, some size priorities can clash. How do you weigh up difficult or competing decisions?

Tim:

Uh, so this sounds a bit trite, but it starts with the children. Mm-hmm. Almo almost always, we try and start with. What's the best outcome for the child and what's the best outcome for a carer to make the best outcome for a child? Now a lot of the things aren't entirely in our gift, and we wish we had a lot more of, uh, uh, influence over local authorities and trusts. Um, we can lobby as hard as we can, we can, we can really advocate for, but. Not everything is, is in our power to do, but when we're weighing up decisions, and, and again, I apologize, it sounds like it's mother motherhood and apple pie, but it starts and ends with the children, the carers, what, what within a reason of what's affordable, what's sensible, what's practical? But the starting point is what would be the best outcome we could achieve if we wanted.

Travis:

Mm-hmm. Absolutely. And with all that, how do you stay connected to what carers are actually experiencing on the ground?

Tim:

Just being out there.

Travis:

Yeah.

Tim:

So from whe, whether it's carer events, whether it's children's awards, I'm in an agency pretty much every single week. Some agencies I'm in multiple, some agencies I'm in multiple times a week or multiple agencies in a week. Uh, this week I'm two agencies next week, two agencies. It's just, yeah, every time I go, I'm listening to our carers. Yeah. If they're there, we're organizing events so that they can, they can talk to me as we did, you know, was, was what happened yesterday. I attend a lot of our galas and um, uh, a long service awards where I can, there are 30 agencies in within the national fostering groups. I can't be in all places at all times, but you know, in answer to your question. How do I make sure we stay connected? It's by, it's by getting out there looking people in the eyes, hearing what they've gotta say.

Travis:

It's like that constant feedback loop,

Tim:

honestly. It's exactly that. Exactly that.

Travis:

Uh, could you give an example of a decision that you've made that had a clear impact on carers or the children in their care?

Tim:

Well, that's a good question. So when the, when I first arrived, I went round every one of the 30 agencies and I asked them what they thought my priorities should be. And not surprisingly, I got a very, very, very, very long list. And carers were very clear on what they wanted. And one of the things that came out the most strongly was. Carers and, and my colleagues, particularly the social workers, they wanted more time supporting carers. They wanted, the carers wanted more support from their social workers. And so over the last couple of months, we've introduced a, uh, a, a capability called Magic Notes. Mm-hmm. Which what it does is it records. Conversations and translates them into really authentic care language orientated notes. Mm-hmm. It is an absolute game changer because our social workers are now able to sit with their carers, have an authentic conversation, a proper discussion about what's going well, what's not going well. Our social workers love it because all they then have to do is make sure that the notes are well edited. Yeah, of course. They go through them properly. It's a scrupulous process to make sure. That we've captured the right content. Mm-hmm. But this is all about investing in giving social workers and carers a better authentic time together. That can only be good for children.

Travis:

Absolutely. That magic notes is phenomenal.'cause when we have,

Marisol:

yeah.

Travis:

We have social workers, supervisor, social workers, they come around to the house and then they can relax. Mm. They're not analyzing EV and writing everything down. It's just recording. It's so accurate, isn't it?

Marisol:

It is. It's very true. My supervising social worker, she's recently started using it. Um, and, and obviously it's getting the hang of getting it all set up and that, but once it's up and running, it is just so much easier. Things just flow. She's not having to worry about, oh, I need to remember that this is an important fact. I need to write it down or get my laptop out, or whatever. So yeah, it definitely makes it. Flow a little bit better. Yeah, it makes me feel at ease because

Travis:

yeah,

Marisol:

I don't feel like I'm under a microscope. I'm just having a conversation with the person that knows the best about what I do and my situation with my foster son and,

Tim:

and that's, you know, back to your question, what's the biggest thing I think I've done for foster care is in the year and a bit I've been here, I think it is. Improve the quality of those supervisions. Yeah. By giving the social workers more time, because they're spending less time typing up notes, uh, by giving them more authentic conversations and by ensuring that the quality of the conversation you've had. Is is more fully reflected.

Travis:

Yeah, it's a very impactful decision.'cause that's really shifted it. Yeah. I can see it in my support of the social worker because they're under a lot of pressure. Obviously the, the amount of case loads they've got, but now it's like, oh, I can just breathe a little bit. Yeah. So it makes a massive,

Tim:

fantastic.

Marisol:

Absolutely. Well, um, hi Tim. Um, I've got, uh. Some thoughts here. So support from and to our agencies is so important. Um, so let's start by talking about the support National Fostering Group provides for both of our perspectives. What are your thoughts?

Tim:

So I think there's a couple of things that really stand out for me. Is, and the first part we've just touched on the, the main feedback we get from our carers is, my relationship with my supervising social worker is fundamental to my success. Mm-hmm. So the first thing in terms of support is making sure that we give our social workers as much time guidance, capability, you know, with within reason. To be able to do great work for you. So that's the first thing. The second thing that has become really apparent to me in the time I've been here and that we've worked really hard on is that the, there is a trend in society that children are presenting with more and more complex needs. If you look at any of the data on children going to school, those with special educational needs. Is going only in one direction and that is up.

Marisol:

Mm-hmm.

Tim:

So, of course that flows into fostering in the sense of the children that are. Being referred to us by local authorities and trusts are coming with a higher set of needs. Even if there're a, a, and I'm, I'm putting inverted commas around this, but even if there are standard placement, of course they've probably got some emotional trauma. They've probably got some mental trauma. They, they're probably coming with. The, the impact of a challenging background that has led them to need to be in the fostering society, uh, fostering sector. So we are putting a lot of effort as an organization into building out our clinical and our therapeutic capabilities to be able to support. Those children who need them more and to be able to lobby local authorities to provide better support because we're better able to identify what the real needs are of children. And I think those are the two things. Like there's, there's loads that I consider about how we. Support foster carers, but those two things really stand out.

Marisol:

Yeah, no, I totally agree. I think, I think it's one of those things where it's never ending. There's so many possibilities on how to support

Tim:

Yeah.

Marisol:

On, on both. On both ends.

Tim:

Well, and listen, you are, you are both doing this live, so what do you think works well

Travis:

the truth?

Marisol:

Yeah.

Travis:

There's so

Tim:

many things. We're only here for that.

Travis:

Absolutely. So the truth is, is again, it's all about, I'd say my personal experiences. Um, if you don't know who you are as a person, you're in big trouble.

Helen:

Mm-hmm.

Travis:

Because they'll see it if you've got, um, if you've gotta be in terms

Tim:

of the children

Travis:

or

Tim:

feel

Travis:

it. Yeah. So from my experience, all our children that we've had have came from other placements that broke down, that the foster carer couldn't, um. I'm trying to choose my words carefully. Um, they weren't equipped Yeah. With the right needs that met the children's needs. In other words, they couldn't

Tim:

Yeah.

Travis:

Provide. So the child got moved, so. In our experience, we've always had children at the, the highest emotional peak. Um, yeah. Teenagers. Mm, yeah. Boys, right. And teenagers and for testosterone confusion. And then they come into our house and now we've gotta in control that emotional state. So if you don't know who you are as a person, uh, it's like saying thick skinned, but it's more than that. Yeah.

Tim:

Yeah.

Travis:

You haven't got a deep

Tim:

resilience. It's mental resilience. It's physical emotional resilience that is. So, so, so important.

Travis:

It, it is like your, your job. You are the CEO. Your skin's good. You've gotta be resilient. You've gotta know it yourself. It's the, it's kind of the same approach to children. These children are looking for cracks 'cause they're very insecure. Yeah. They've got that reptilian brain, the fight or flight response. They need to, they need to have certainty. And if you ain't sure of yourself, they'll see it. Kids aren't stupid, so you've gotta be right. This is. I'm being transparent. I'm being straight with you. But you've gotta be firm. You've gotta know what you're talking about. Be therapeutic. So all the training that we get is brilliant, but you, you have to implement. I

Marisol:

think your background helps with that as well.

Travis:

Well, it's the same with you. We're all in the same boat.

Marisol:

Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. I think it's really helpful. We same training though, we Yeah. Having all the, the training that the national fostering group provide, right? Yeah. There's so much material there for anyone to access for that is a foster care with the National Fostering Group. Um, I know I access it all the time and it's not just your, what you have to do the mandatory stuff and there's so much information there that is really, really helpful. Um, so I really tap into that and I find that so, so good.

Tim:

Honestly, it's, it's such. Makes me so happy to hear it because we put a lot of time, effort, money. We've got a brilliant learning and talent team, and they, they do without doubt, outstanding work to make sure that we've got the best content we can to help carers. Definitely. The, the, the other thing that I'm interested in your views on is. To what degree are the support groups helpful?

Travis:

My opinion, we all have different support groups because we've got different support and social workers people are different, aren't they? They have different ways of managing. So me, I've had several support and social workers, but the particular one I've got now, um, from the St. Helen's office is phenomenal.

Tim:

And I meant more in terms of the support groups with other. With other carers like this? Yeah. The network groups,

Travis:

it's all, I think it's all determined by the support and social worker.'cause they're the, the person who's gonna organize Yeah. Got it. These events, so if, if they're, if they're not, um, I'm just using mine for an example. It's very personable.

Marisol:

Mm-hmm.

Travis:

Um. He's professional, but he's also grounded at the same time. And because he's relaxed, he creates that rapport with all the other carers. So we're all like kind of mates and so people want to go to the support groups. Yeah. Great. And because that, it's like a, an outlet. Oh, we're all, we can all sort of be ourselves a little bit. Yeah, yeah. But be professional. But you've got that, um, flow and now there's an openness, a space that we can say, are you getting on me? How's, sure. Look, oh, I've got this challenging behavior. I've had this. So you've got that. But again, it's all down to the support and social worker. Yeah. But. They are all good, aren't they?

Marisol:

Yeah. I mean, I've, I'm at, uh, fostering relations in Scotland. Yeah. Um, and we do events, multiple events throughout the year where all of our foster cares get together with our kids and we all just have a laugh, and have a chat and have a moan.

Travis:

Yeah.

Marisol:

Because you have to have a moan. If you don't, then.

Travis:

You, you've got to release, you've got to release the

Marisol:

absolutely the pressure and who better to understand us than the people who are going through it. Um, so yeah, I, I find that really helpful. I think it would be good to have, um, more than just a couple of these yearly big events. Um. I don't, I dunno how it works in, in your area. Yeah. But I think, uh, we could do with having more, um, of these sort of organized events rather than it just being come to the office and let's sit around and and have a chat.'cause that can be a bit confrontational. Yeah. Um, so, but yeah, I find them really, really good. Um, and I love having that interaction with other foster cares and being there to support them and having them support us as well. Um, is really, really helpful.

Travis:

That's interesting you say that because, uh, what. Um, the fostering solutions. Do we go for meals? We, we, we were doing line dancing the other day.

Marisol:

Oh, pro i,

Tim:

I would pay to see you line dancing.

Travis:

I

Tim:

did. We, I've never met you before, but already I'm putting my money down for this.

Travis:

I was like to and dean, but they don't line dance, do they? They ice skate. They ice skate. So that's how Rono was getting it. But I had me support a social worker working a, wearing a cowboy. Have you ever seen the film Cocoon and you've got all these old elderly people? Yeah, it was like that. She's got all these little grannies and we're all do this line dance and wanted to awkward, but it was funny. Oh, thrill. And it was fun. Um, so we did that. Um, but we do stuff like that. Mm-hmm.

Tim:

And, and this, so this is a really interesting point. So you are with different agencies? Yeah. Yeah. They're all part of the National Fostering Group. And we don't dictate to each agency, you've gotta do it this way, you've got to do it that way. We trust the registered manager and the local team. To find the right balance to listen to what the carers want. If you want something different, Angela and the team there that, you know, they're, they're the right people to talk to.'cause they have, you know, a fair degree of autonomy. They don't have bottomless reserves of money, of course, but. But they do have an entertainment budget that they can spend on what the carers would would call for.

Travis:

Thing is, Tim, like I said, I dunno what what's happening for, but with ours I can only speak for that. They're really proactive in it.

Tim:

Yeah.

Travis:

It's like you can't get rid of them. It's like, do you wanna go out? We're doing this. It's like over and it's lovely. And it's like it's, they really wanna look after. Yeah.

Tim:

I'll have to have a look at their budgets actually already.

Travis:

Say

Tim:

maybe

Marisol:

we need a

Tim:

bit more

Marisol:

budget

Tim:

at Foster. We might have over allocated.

Marisol:

Oh dear. No, that's

Tim:

all. Joking aside, what, what else have you got on your list?

Marisol:

Yeah. So, um, once you understand what Foster cares need. How do agencies make sure that cares can get help when it's needed, including outside office hours?

Tim:

Yeah, so there's, there's two parts to this and this, and it comes back to what we've just talked about to some extent, which is there's. A real responsibility for us as a group to make sure there are capabilities, whether that's the clinical, therapeutic learning, training, all of those things. We want to make sure our agencies have got access to the best that are available in the in, in the uk. And then we want to trust the local agencies to be able to. Adopt whatever practices they need provided they're compliant, obviously with all of the Ofsted or whatever local, um, whether it's in Scotland, Northern Ireland, or Wales. Each of the, each of the regulatory bodies we. Do not skimp on, of course, on any of the compliance, but we want to, within those compliance boundaries, give as much trust to the agencies to deliver locally. So for example, at Out of Hours, the agency I was with yesterday in the Northwest, which is a different one from the one you are with, um, Travis, you know, they u they use a slightly different approach over about out of hours. But they do it because that's what their carers say, work for them. So we try and do this balance of autonomy locally. But with an underpinning of professional support, which, which no small and medium sized agency could ever, could ever muster.

Marisol:

Yeah.

Travis:

Okay. We want to ensure this is an honest conversation about fostering. From your perspective, what do you see as the biggest challenges foster care carers face in the future?

Tim:

Whoa. Um, well, I think that there are a couple of. Key aspects that spring to mind. So the, the first is the, the one I mentioned earlier, the, the increasing complex needs of children, whether, whether they are children with complex needs per se or not, but whether it, you know, whether it's birth children or whether it's foster children. Children generally are coming with more emotional challenges. They're coming with more, with more mental challenges than ever before. And. And I, and I think that's a societal issue, and of course it plays out into fostering as well. So number one, that is one of the biggest challenges foster care is because many of them have birth children as well, and they're gonna, they're gonna have the whole dynamic playing out, whether you're, whether you're pure foster or a foster with birth children as well. This increasing mental wellbeing, emotional wellbeing. Is a really important area for us to make sure we're supporting on. And I think the second area, which unfortunately I don't see an obvious end in sight to, but I, but I do think there is a glimmer of hope, which I'll come onto in a moment, is that local authorities and trusts are. Are struggling not just financially, but they're struggling with the responsibilities of the, of the increasing expectation of their residents for every aspect of the services they provide. People aren't expecting less from their bin service. They aren't expecting less from their, from their children's services. They aren't expecting less from their adult social services. And of course that puts local authorities in a really, really difficult place, and I'm sure you will have both experienced this. We see this every single day about how we have to go into battle and how we have to support our foster carers to go into battle on behalf of the children. With the person who is ultimately the corporate parent, which is the local authority or the trust.

Marisol:

And I think that's a very important word that you've just said there going into battle because it sometimes is genuinely, that's the feeling you are going into battle with these local authorities. Yeah. Um, and it, and it is a struggle. And so having that really good backing from your supervising social worker and the national fostering group is so crucial.

Travis:

Absolutely.

Tim:

And I, uh, I don't pretend in any way we're able to fix every situation because sadly we're not. There is, there is limited resources within local authorities and trusts, but. Because of our scale, because of our experience, because of the depth of care and determination we've got. We do ma manage to make a difference on a, on a lot of times for children. And I think those, so those two things I think are the, are the most, are honest aspects of fostering. Nobody. One of the things I say to anybody in my. Conversations with them about whether they might foster or not is whenever you speak to a foster carer, they'll tell you it's one of the very best things they've ever done. They will also tell you, nobody can prepare you for how emotionally challenging this will be at points. And, and you have to know and understand that when you come into it. Now, the I I said there was a ray of hope. Regarding that local authority situation and the government's announcement recently about the additional money that they were going to invest. Now most of that is orientated towards theoretically, and we're gonna be part of the government consultation, so we'll make sure our voices heard and our carers voices are heard. But a lot of that money and investment is, is theoretically towards the recruitment point. What we will be stressing very heavily to government is recruitment is important, retention is even more important. Mm-hmm. Taking away some of the reasons that people leave fostering, for example, their frustrations at getting a CAMS assessment for a child and, and the, and the look at that face that says it. All right.

Travis:

Oh,

Tim:

um. That, but the, the, but the, but the pain and emotional journey that you, you are, you are going through, whether you're a, whether it's with a birth child or whether it's with a foster child, it's the same thing. The cams waiting list is somewhere between a year and two years, depending on price.

Travis:

Three.

Tim:

Well, you know, it's regionally variant, but again, you know, the, it doesn't surprise me at all and, and helping government understand that. One of the challenges that occasionally causes foster carers to retire is this feeling of, I can't make enough of a difference. My child needs more, and I can't make enough of a difference. So I think doing our bit to advocate for them passionately. And doing our bit to lobby government to help them appreciate that getting more people in is only as good as the amount of people you stop leaving. And the reason they leave is usually due to the frustrations of, of having to deal with the education or, or, or social care sector.

Marisol:

And it is such a struggle. I mean, I have to say as, as a foster care to. To our foster son. He, he has special needs, he's got learning disability and the whole camp situation was just such a struggle for so many years that we went down the line of trying to do things privately and being out of pocket.

Tim:

Yeah.

Marisol:

Um, but even having to do that because at the time he was under the age of 16, it's then trying to get permission and will they allow it? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But this is for his wellbeing and it's something that you guys have said you want him to have done. You know, so why aren't you? So it, it's just so much red tape.

Tim:

Uh, and this, this is a really, I'm getting goosebumps about this because this is a really emotive area. We have clinical and therapeutic capabilities, and we're building more of them. We can do assessments. But there're only any use if they will be acknowledged. Mm-hmm. And this is this dilemma of for, for, for foster carers, for birth parents, do I go privately and get the assessment done? Well, that's only any use if it's actually going to be listened to. And, and I think that's one of the points we're gonna make very, very clearly to governments is that for children to get the support they need, there is a systemic issue that needs more consideration than investment.

Marisol:

Absolutely shall I? I've got a few questions.

Tim:

Yeah. That's what we're here for, right? That's what we're here for.

Marisol:

Um, so Tim. We like to feel like we're really being heard. So I hope you're listening. Um, how can carers share their feedback? What would be the best way?

Tim:

Well, hopefully there isn't just one way. I I, I'd say there are a few things which are really important. The annual carer survey. Please make your voice heard. I guarantee you we pay enormous attention to that. But also it's at the other end of the extreme. Come along to the events, come along to the support groups, make your voice heard. And our registered managers, our, our team managers are absolutely focused on, and we are focused on making sure they've heard and they've told the wider organization what needs to happen. So, uh, you know, I, I don't, I, I think it'd be really sad if we only had one feedback mechanism. Mm-hmm. But there's everything, everything from Drop me an email through to mm-hmm. Through to answer the survey, through to, um, through, to come along to the events. I mean, just to plug the survey point, so I, I understand that. I really do understand it takes 20, 25 minutes and people are busy, but we would love more people to fill it in. We get a very decent response rate, but

Marisol:

could

Tim:

be better. You said, but you said carers like to be heard. Please. Yeah, please. I guarantee you the survey is a key influencer for us of, of where we need to put our priorities.

Travis:

I think

Tim:

it looks like you had

Travis:

a follow

Tim:

up point.

Travis:

I've got It's, it's interesting you just said that because I think what would be very effective if you ask someone to do something, it's just like you said, it's like, oh, I don't got time forms. But if you ring them up and says, I am just from the agency, I just wanna ask you certain questions. Just a bit of feedback, that's all. And I go, oh, well, well, well now they'll start vented. Yeah. God, that's what you want. I want feedback. And if you had someone just to wr all the foster gar instead of the, so now you've, you're not putting 'em in the corner, but now you're putting 'em on the spot says, right, give us some feedback. How is everything's, if someone did that to me, I'd respond better than saying, if you've got any issues, just go send us an email. It's like, I haven't got time for this. It's good.

Tim:

It's good feedback. We'll ever think about how we can make that. An interactive option for those people who might be interested. I think there'll be quite a few who would be, um, horrified but being put on the spot or even with a scheduled interview. But, but I agree. There's a pop, there's an opportunity for horses, for courses.

Marisol:

I mean, our agency, anytime that there's event. You know, like one of our yearly events, we go to Blair Drum and Safari Park or you know, or Christmas events. They have, um, stations. Yeah. Right. So each uh, supervising social worker have specific questions mm-hmm. That they'll get all the foster cares to go around. So it's an interactive thing. Yeah. For all the foster carers.

Tim:

Yeah.

Marisol:

Um, and, and along with doing that, you're then doing something Christmasy. Yeah. You know, in between that. So it makes it one less confrontational, more a bit more conversational. Yeah. Um, and, and not so, oh, I've gotta do this. Yeah. You know? Exactly. And, and it's important, right? So carers out there, get these forms filled out, answer these questions. Yeah. It's so important.

Travis:

It's like, it's like this, Tim, if you were inviting someone to come to your house and spend time with you, you wouldn't send them an email, say. Would you like to come to my house visit? You'd ring them up and say Hi, do you wanna come? So as an example,

Marisol:

well, I dunno. I, I would text, I think we're in a generation

Tim:

I know, but also there's parts of my family. I would definitely send an email so that, oh, you didn't see an email? I'm so sorry about that.

Travis:

Spam sent it. Yeah,

Tim:

exactly.

Travis:

But our social spot, social worker, you'll see an email saying, we've got an event at 10 o'clock. We'd love for you to come. I look at it, I don't, like most people go just. But then my support and social will bringing me up and go, Travis, uh, do you see the email I sent you? I'm like, hi, Mike, that's his name. And he said, are you coming? I'm like, and then I'm like, okay. Because now it's that human connection. Yeah. Yeah.

Marisol:

So just to sort of move on a little bit from that, I, I wanna, um, emphasize, obviously we want carers to put in their feedback. Yeah. But when they do, yeah. What happens to that feedback? Who does it go to? And can you give an example of when that feedback has actually led to any change?

Tim:

Great. So, um, take it back a step. Two big forms of feedback. One is the carer survey. Mm-hmm. And the other is the, the feedback from the agencies. Uh, and so what happens with it is we discuss it as an exec team. We discuss it as operational teams, if it's within the agency's control. And of course they, they're gonna want to do something about it. Uh, if it, if it is a more. Company-wide and organization-wide decision that we need to make, then, then that sits with, largely with me and the exec team. I promise you we are very, very consultative with, uh, with all of our agencies. Like, we're thinking of doing this. Would it work? We're thinking of doing that. Would it work? So an example of something we've done. Talked about magic notes. I mean, that was, that was driven by carer feedback and colleague feedback about I want more time with my social worker. Um, the, the other things we've been looking at respite that comes up really, really regularly and we've got a whole piece of work which we've kicked off. As a result of the feedback we got from the last carer survey about trying to improve our respite offering, um, we're recruiting more respite carers. Again, that's all driven by some of the feedback we received. So, you know, those are a couple of examples, but, but we're really, really conscious that people take the time to tell you something. A, you need to do something about it, and B, you need to try and tell 'em what you've done.

Marisol:

Absolutely. No, that's great. Do you know, it's been so great having a chat with you and, and getting to hear your thoughts on how this works. It's great for us as Foster cares to really, you know, get down to the nitty gritty of it and, and, and see your views about it. So thank you so much.

Tim:

Well, again, I'll come back to the other way round. I'm the one thanking you. Right. I, I've got the privilege of, of

Marisol:

now we

Tim:

need to hold you accountable

Marisol:

though.

Tim:

Uh, but that's, that's absolutely what you should do. Absolutely. What you should do. Uh, it's what my colleagues do to me. It's what our carers should and do, do to me. You know, my job is to try and make our support for foster carers as good as it can be within the, the confines of the systems we work in and the, and the economics of how the, the money flows. So, I, I thank you. Not, not the other way around.

Helen:

Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of Voices of Fostering. If you'd like to find out more, head online and search National Fostering Group and make this the year you foster.