Welcome to the fostering team
As registered manager, I’d like to thank you for considering us for your fostering journey. We’ve been providing much needed foster care to children throughout the Northwest of England since 2013, and we’re excited to welcome you on the start of your journey.
I am privileged to work alongside a team of people who bring diverse skills, experiences, and unwavering dedication to our mission. Each member of our team plays a crucial role in providing support, guidance, and love to those in need, helping to create an environment where children can thrive and families can flourish.
In the “Meet the Team” section below, you will have the opportunity to get to know the faces behind our agency, learn about their backgrounds, and understand the unique perspectives they bring to our work. It is our hope that through these introductions, you will feel the genuine passion and commitment that drives us every day.
Thank you for considering The Fostering Team for your fostering journey. We look forward to sharing more about our incredible team and, more importantly, getting to know you and your family.
Anthony Turner, Registered Manager
Local team for local families
ANTHONY TURNER
Registered Manager
Anthony has recently joined the The Fostering Team after 27 years of working in the health and social care sector, prior to qualifying as a social worker in 2003.
He has a particular interest in networking and sharing best practice ideas, whereby Anthony sits on the Coraam BAAF UK Social Work Committee.
He is a dynamic leader with a clear desire to encourage relational working amongst all to achieve positive changes and outcomes.
Katie has worked in the health and social care sector at senior financial level for a number of years. She worked as Head of Commercial Finance at Advanced Childcare, the largest provider of children’s residential services, fostering and education in the UK, carrying out group-wide financial analysis, budgeting and forecasting, as well as supporting on numerous acquisitions and integrations, completing investment appraisals for property acquisitions and providing commercial support regarding pricing, tenders and new service launches.
Katie says: “I thoroughly enjoy working in the children’s services sector as it gives me the opportunity as an accountant to feel like I am doing something with meaning, which many finance people don’t get the opportunity to have. I love hearing the success stories of the children in our care – even little progress steps forward – it reminds me why we do this.”
KATIE SAMMONDS
Finance Director
HELEN DWYER
Quality Assurance Manager
Helen gained her MA Social Work in 2008 and has worked in several Independent Fostering Agencies as well as the Adult Mental Health sector. Helen started as a Supervising Social Worker for a large independent fostering agency and worked with a variety of carers and children when in this role; within the same agency Helen progressed to Senior Practitioner and oversaw Recruitment and Assessment of foster carers. This included taking the lead in Quality Assurance and supervising staff members. Helen has attended specialist fostering forums and has taken a lead role for the agency within this. Helen has led a variety of training courses for foster carers and is a Skills to Foster Trainer; she has also undertaken staff training.
Helen held the role of Senior Supervising Social Worker with The Fostering Team since 2016 before commencing her role in quality assurance. Helen is responsible for the quality assurance and sign off for all reports that are to be presented to our independent review and fostering panels amongst other auditing and quality assurance responsibilities. Helen is passionate about The Fostering Team and the support and care our foster carers give to the children they look after and as part of the team, works hard to ensure our children reach their full potential.
Christine has over 17 years’ experience working within the fostering sector and enjoys working with the team and fostering families, supporting their everyday needs.
She has a flair for organising fostering events which she thoroughly enjoys attending, enabling her to meet all of The Fostering Teams fostering families on a regular basis.
Christine has a key role in the fostering application process, panel and everyday support to foster carers, and was raised within a fostering household which has been invaluable to her work.
CHRISTINE HADFIELD
Office Manager
KATIE FLETCHER
Senior Supervising Social Worker
With over 10 years’ experience as a supervising social worker, Katie previously worked in the mental health, disabilities and older people sectors.
Katie particularly enjoys working with foster carers to ensure they are supported to the highest levels, as well as supporting well-matched fostering placements.
Her commitment to working in the fostering sector is driven from wanting to support fostering households with a consistent yet flexible approach to achieve the best for all.
Rebecca previously undertook a placement within a large fostering organisation before joining The Fostering Team.
She has experience of case management and has successfully and consistently delivered high quality support and supervision for foster carers, ensuring the stability of placements and nurturing relationships for both children and fostering families.
A confident and keen advocate for children, Rebecca ensures their personalised needs are being met in order to achieve to their fullest potential.
REBECCA WOODS
Senior Supervising Social Worker
MICHELLE BROWN
Carer Liaison Officer
Michelle is the Carer Liaison Officer whose role is to help with the recruitment of Foster Carers and support them through the application process. Michelle is proud to represent The Fostering Team as the first point of contact for Foster Carer enquiries. Michelle particularly enjoys interacting with people, especially on a face-to-face basis. Michelle enjoys the opportunity to offer a friendly face alongside a compassionate nature to support and guide existing and future Foster Carers through their fostering journey. Michelle has a wealth of experience in customer service and administrative roles which are key to the smooth running of the recruitment process and ultimately to succeed in the very best outcome for all the children, young people and fostering families.
Lisaan has recently returned to the fostering team as a Social Work Apprentice. She is currently studying at Manchester Metropolitan University for her BA hons in Social Work. Lisaan first started as an administrator but found her passion for social work through the experiences of her colleagues. She will be working alongside the Social Work team to enhance her knowledge, skills and experiences. Lisaan looks forward to supporting families and helping for better outcomes for young people.
Lisaan Khawaja
Apprentice Social Worker
DAMILOLA ADEGELOYE
Supervising Social Worker
Damilola recently qualified as a Social Worker in October 2021, she embarked on an intensive two-year Master of Arts degree program in Social Work and have gained immense knowledge and experience. Damilola also has extensive work experience having worked in a young people’s residential home for a couple of years, which has helped her gain experience in behavioral, emotional development and patterns of transition from childhood to adulthood.
Just after completing her studies, Damilola worked as a Mental Health Social Worker- her previous role involved working as part of a multidisciplinary team within the practice to identify patients in need of proactive support. For example, people living with frailty, people with multiple long-term physical and mental health condition.
Kelly has a rich history in child protective services. Prior to becoming a social worker, Kelly worked with
children and young people in a number of targeted youth provisions across Manchester
for nearly 20 years. This work included providing services to the traveller
community, children with disabilities, young carers and young people on the
fringe of gang activity.
Kelly has been a social worker now for 6 years after starting in the Children With Disabilities Team, followed by time in the connected carers team before moving on to fostering. Kelly is also a care-experienced social worker. This lived experience gives Kelly a kaleidoscope view of those she works with and helps her better understand and support children and young people.
Kelly Winter
Senior Supervising Social Worker
Kayleigh Woodbridge
Supervising Social Worker
Kayleigh
gained her MA in Social Work in 2017 and is an experienced social worker having
previously worked in a statutory setting within a duty team. Kayleigh has
experience of working with family’s at child in need level, completing section
47 investigations and working within the court arena. She has experience of
building effective working relationships with families, enabling partnership
working. Kayleigh also has experience of working with children in the care
system and this has also supported her to work with foster carers in varied
capacities.
Kayleigh has recently re-joined the Fostering team after working for a Local Authority undertaking Kinship care assessments on children and young people’s family members.
Kayleigh has a broad range of knowledge and experience within social work practice and has successfully and consistently delivered high quality support and supervision for foster carers in the role of supervising social worker. She has a keen interest in ensuring children and families are safe whilst supporting the continued development and resilience of children in the care system.