Foster Wales Monmouthshire and colleagues from across Foster Wales Gwent would like to thank everyone who visited their stands at the Usk Show and Abergavenny Food Festival across the events.

Across the events, colleagues spoke to prospective foster carers and raised awareness of the not-for-profit work being done in Monmouthshire.

Monmouthshire County Council’s not-for-profit fostering team focuses on finding the right home for a child or young person with the aim of keeping them close to familiar surroundings. In Wales, 79% of children cared for by private fostering agencies are fostered outside their local area, and 6% are moved out of Wales entirely. Meanwhile, 84% of those living with local authority foster carers stay within their local area, close to home, school, family and friends.

Attending the Usk Show and Abergavenny Food Festival allowed the Foster Wales Monmouthshire team to speak to prospective foster carers on how they could positively impact a child’s or young adult’s life while also providing information on the support available to all foster carers in the county.

Cllr. Ian Chandler, Cabinet Member for Social Care, Safeguarding and Accessible Health said: “It was fantastic to see so many people visiting and speaking to staff at the events. With a variety of support in place through the not-for-profit Foster Wales Monmouthshire team, there is no better time to get involved and have a positive impact on a child’s or young adult’s life. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to enquire and register their interest. If you didn’t get an opportunity to learn about this, don’t worry; you can still contact our dedicated and wonderful team today.”

If you didn’t get the opportunity to speak to the team and find out more about becoming a foster carer or transferring to Foster Wales Monmouthshire at the events, it’s not too late, please visit: https://fosterwales.monmouthshire.gov.uk/contact-us/.