Foster Care Associates Receives Leading Aspect Award

Foster Care Associates (FCA) has Received the Leading Aspect Award for Empowering Staff and Foster Carers to Drive up Educational Standards

BROMSGROVE, England, May 9, 2011 - Foster Care Associates (FCA) has received the Leading Aspect Award for
empowering staff and foster carers to drive up educational standards for
looked after children and young people.

The Leading Aspect Award is a self-evaluation framework designed to judge
the support of educational welfare within an organisation. FCA has received
positive results based on criteria such as commitment to quality, teaching
and learning, sharing good practice, and disseminating innovation.

The agency has proved particularly successful in empowering foster carers
and staff to narrow the attainment gap for educational achievement for looked
after children and young people.

As an integral part of FCA's Team Parenting approach to foster care,
education is considered important in increasing stability within a fostering
(www.thefca.co.uk/) placement and enhancing the future outcomes of
looked after children and young people. Encouraging educational achievement
is therefore considered a high priority for the agency and its foster carers.

Julie Archer, Head of Education at FCA, has welcomed the Award, stating
that the recognition means a lot for the agency: "Achieving the Leading
Aspect Award for FCA is important as it confirms that the strategies we use
are effective in improving the outcomes of the children and young people
placed with us. At FCA we have a commitment to ensure all children and young
people placed with our foster carers receive an appropriate education.
Education is paramount to stability within a foster placement and to enhance
the life chances of children.

"Our Education Service works to identify and secure appropriate education
provision by engaging with staff from schools and other agencies and working
with foster carers to support the young people. In addition we also provide
direct support to the children and young people wherever appropriate.

"Sharing this practice through the Leading Aspect Award heightens the
awareness of the issues for looked after children all over the UK and, in
particular, the importance of putting strategies in place to support children
and young people to reach their educational potential."

Throughout the UK there is a shortfall of around 10,000 foster carers
(www.thefca.co.uk/). As the UK's leading Independent Fostering Agency,
FCA is seeking to address this shortage through a nationwide foster carer
recruitment campaign and a fully integrated marketing approach. FCA seeks to
raise awareness of fostering as a career, and the importance of supporting
looked after children in education, in order to help improve the outcomes of
young people in foster care (
www.thefca.co.uk/why-do-children-and-young-people-need-fostering)
across the UK.

About Foster Care Associates:

Foster Care Associates (FCA), part of the Core Assets Group Ltd, is the
UK's leading Independent Fostering Agency (www.thefca.co.uk/), with
offices operating throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Working in partnership with Local Authorities and Health Trusts throughout
the UK, FCA aims to provide 'quality care in a family setting' for over 2500
foster children who are looked after by the agency's 2100 foster families.

    Foster Care Associates PR Contact

    Rob Bloom
    Online Copywriter
    FCA Central Services
    Malvern View
    Saxon Business Park
    Hanbury Road
    Stoke Prior
    Bromsgrove
    B60 4AD

    +44(0)1527-556480

    www.thefca.co.uk

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