In 2002 when Nexus Fostering started, we had one simple aim in mind: to provide high-quality foster placements to children and young people who needed them. I had been a Social Worker in fostering since 1983, and then, as now, felt passionately that successful fostering placements provided an excellent opportunity for children and young people to develop their full potential.
Two like-minded colleagues joined with me to form our agency with the intention of focusing on services that support carers to do well for the children and young people placed with them. We each did everything and anything to make those early placements work.
Since then, Nexus Fostering has grown from strength to strength. We continue to develop services in accordance with our original vision, and I am proud of the record of success that Nexus Fostering has established. Since 2002, the crucial role of foster carers has become nationally recognised and fostering services have become increasingly regulated and held to account. That means that as an agency we have to set out our vision, our services and our structures in a formal document – a Statement of Purpose: Nexus Fostering Statement of Purpose.
Our Statement of Purpose sets out the aims, objectives and beliefs that underpin our work and commit everyone involved in Nexus Fostering to the best interests and welfare of children as our priority. The Statement shows how this priority will be met and good outcomes achieved through our services. It outlines how our service is managed and the systems which we have set in place to recruit, train, supervise and support our foster carers.
The Statement of Purpose is regularly reviewed and updated annually.
This document, despite its formal nature, only really says what we thought in the beginning: that services for our foster carers remain central to all those who work for and with Nexus Fostering, and through them the children and young people receive excellent care. Our original team of 3 have grown, but we are still at the head of the agency and some of the original children are still part of their original fostering families. They remind us of where we started and what we can achieve.
They have a great future ahead, and we will do our best so that the same can be said for all children and young people placed with us. As you read the Statement of Purpose, we hope you find a lasting commitment to excellent foster care by a social-worker led agency and a professional service with a personal approach.