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About Family Care

We are a family owned social care provider working therapeutically with children in care since 1988.

We work with a determination to build something that truly makes a difference to children and young people.

Our Values

Our Philosophy

Secure Base

Our Values

Our philosophy

Secure base

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Ged Williamson

Family Care was set up in May 1988 by Ged Williamson.  Ged was a social worker who was becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of suitable homes for the children he worked with, so he decided to open one.

Many of these young people needed the extra support that residential homes provide, before transitioning into foster care.  As a result, Family Care opened an independent fostering agency in 2002 and a school in 2003 to more fully meet the needs of the children we support.

Ged Williamson

Family Care was set up in May 1988 by Ged Williamson.  Ged was a social worker who was becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of suitable homes for the children he worked with, so he decided to open one.

Many of these young people needed the extra support that residential homes provide, before transitioning into foster care.  As a result, Family Care opened an independent fostering agency in 2002 and a school in 2003 to more fully meet the needs of the children we support.

We have supported hundreds of young people on their journeys.

We are a passionate, proud, family-owned company

We use therapeutic approaches led by the Secure Base Model

Our amazing in-house therapists provide regular support and training

Our staff and foster carers make us who we are

Since our beginning, we have supported hundreds of young people on their journeys.

All our residential, education and fostering services are underpinned by established therapeutic practice models, with Secure Base at the heart of our approach. 

We believe this makes us one of the safest and most trusted providers of children’s services for foster carers and local authorities in the North West and the Midlands. 

Our Values

Aspire: 

To be the best we can be

Grow:

Continuously improve and develop

Innovate:

Think outside the box

Legacy:

Leave a positive impact

Ethical:

Always do the right thing

Our philosophy

Family Care is a family-owned, values-led organisation working therapeutically with children and young people for over 30 years. At the foundation of our work is a set of shared values, a sense of purpose and pride and a loyalty that keeps us together in hard times.

Our work is based on all staff and foster carers delivering therapeutically informed care. What does this mean? It means we believe that children recovering from trauma need more than a one hour session with a therapist every week. By having all our foster carers and staff working therapeutically with young people, we are providing 24/7 therapeutically informed care.

To achieve this, our therapy team train our staff and foster carers to work within the Secure Base therapeutic framework. Our therapists work alongside us to promote the benefits of therapeutic practice and ensure foster carers and staff are confident using these approaches.

The ‘Social Care Institute of Excellence’ believes that; “Clearly defined therapeutic approaches enable staff to “have a better understanding of how young people’s experiences affect them, considering their emotional needs and fostering resilience”.  At Family Care we work to this principle, after all foster care, SEN, and residential care are complex activities that require rehabilitative and therapeutic approaches and skills.  It is for this reason that all of our services are supported by qualified therapists, who provide regular consultations to our carers and staff teams.   

Commissioning

Our therapy team can also provide direct work to children and young people if needed, for more information on the additional therapeutic services we offer please contact our Lead Therapist Kerry Robertson Kerry.robertson@family-care.co.uk

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Working with young people, activities, flower, art

Our philosophy

Family Care is a family-owned, values-led organisation working therapeutically with children and young people for over 30 years.At the foundation of our work is a set of shared values, a sense of purpose and pride and a loyalty that keeps us together in hard times.

Our work is based on all staff and foster carers delivering
therapeutically informed care. What does this mean? It means we believe that children recovering from trauma need more than a 1-hour session with a therapist every few weeks. By having all our foster carers and staff working therapeutically with young people, we are providing 24/7 therapeutically
informed care.

To achieve this, our in-house therapeutic team train our staff and foster carers to work within the Secure Base therapeutic framework. Our therapists work alongside us to promote the benefits of therapeutic practice and ensure foster carers and staff are confident using these therapeutic approaches.

Most of the therapeutic support Family Care provide is included as standard and is focused on supporting foster carers and staff.


Commissioning

Our therapy team can also provide direct work to children and young people if needed, for a rate card list of the additional services we offer you can download our therapeutic services info pack.

The Secure Base Model

We use the Secure Base Model throughout all our services.

The Secure Base model is drawn from attachment theory and adapted to include an additional element, ‘family membership’, for children who are separated from their birth families.  The model proposes five dimensions of caregiving Availability, Sensitivity, Acceptance, Co-operation and Family Membership, each of which is associated with a corresponding developmental benefit for the child.’

The dimensions overlap and combine with each other to create a secure base for the young person. The model was recommended in the government white paper Care Matters (2007) and is incorporated into The Fostering Network’s pre-approval training for foster carers.

We use the Secure Base Model throughout all our services. This therapeutic model of care was developed by Professor Gillian Schofield and Dr Mary Beek in the Centre for Research on Children and Families. It is made up of 5 dimensions of caregiving which overlap and combine with each other to create a secure base for the child.

The Secure Base was recommended in the government white paper Care Matters (2007) and is incorporated into The Fostering Network’s pre-approval training for foster carers.

Similarly, Family Care is made up of 4 dimensions, fostering (pink), education (green), residential (blue) and
support services (orange), which overlap and combine with each other to create the Family Care Group.

We work with a determination to build something that truly makes a difference to children and young people.

Although we’re bigger than when Ged started, we retain that ‘family feel’ which makes us different from other agencies, and we care passionately about our staff, children & young people, and the professionals we work with.

Click here to read more about the Secure Base Model and how we use it

Secure Base Model

Services

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Secure Base Model

Services

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