Celebrating 20 Years: We’re Opening a New Therapeutic Residential Home in Deal

Celebrating 20 Years: We’re Opening a New Therapeutic Residential Home in Deal

As we mark 20 years of providing therapeutic care and education to vulnerable children, we at Channels & Choices are proud to announce the opening of our newest residential home — Pier House, located on the outskirts of Deal, Kent.

Pier House is a beautiful, newly renovated four-bed home designed to provide therapeutic residential care for children aged 6 to 14 who have experienced early life trauma. It reflects our ongoing commitment to offering safe, nurturing, and homely environments where children can heal, grow, and begin to thrive.

A Home That Feels Like Family

We have carefully adapted Pier House to create a warm, welcoming space that mirrors a typical family home. With four spacious bedrooms for children, and communal living areas that promote togetherness and belonging, every detail has been designed to offer comfort and familiarity.

Our small, family-sized homes allow us to deliver high-quality, individualised therapeutic support. At Pier House, our dedicated team of therapeutically trained staff will provide 24-hour care, helping each child feel safe, heard, and understood.

Therapeutic Support Built Into Every Day

At Channels & Choices, therapeutic care is at the heart of everything we do. Each child at Pier House will benefit from a personalised daily routine, including both one-on-one and group support sessions such as Children’s Meetings and ‘Get Togethers’. Shared meals and activities are important parts of the day, helping children feel part of a caring and consistent community.

Children placed with us will also have access to specialist education through our SEMH school, The Sallygate School, located in Kearsney, near Dover. Additionally, our in-house multidisciplinary therapy team — including Speech and Language Therapists, an Occupational Therapist, a Dance and Movement Psychotherapist, and an Art Psychotherapist — ensures that support is timely, consistent, and tailored to each child’s needs.

A Pathway to Family Life

Wherever possible, we aim for children to return to a family environment — whether that’s with their parents, extended family, or in a foster placement. Our unique Stepping Stone programme supports children who have lived in our residential homes to move into fostering, often keeping their same school placement, therapist, and trusted staff members throughout the transition. This continuity is key in helping children feel secure and supported as they take the next step in their journey.

A Proven Track Record of Outstanding Care

We are proud that all our residential homes are rated either Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. Recent inspection feedback highlighted the nurturing environments we create, the positive experiences we offer, and the dedication of our staff.

“The children live in a nurturing home. Their achievements are celebrated regardless of how big or small, which empowers children and increases their confidence about what they can achieve.” — Ofsted Inspector

Activities like horse riding, drama clubs, and talent shows are just some of the ways we help children explore their interests, build confidence, and enjoy their childhoods.

Growing Our Team in Deal

With the opening of Pier House, we’re also creating new job opportunities for local people. We are passionate about investing in our staff and offer a comprehensive two-week induction, ongoing training, and a fully funded Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare.

Every Channels & Choices employee also receives Private Medical Care, which includes optical, dental, and audiological coverage, as well as 28 days of annual leave plus bank holidays. We want our team to feel valued, well supported, and proud of the work they do.

Kate Stephenson, Operational Director and Responsible Individual, shares: “We are delighted to be opening Pier House in our twentieth year of caring for children. Our new staff team are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our first children, and we are incredibly proud to be offering a safe, small, nurturing, family-style environment where children can begin to heal and flourish.”

Join Us in Making a Difference

If you’re passionate about working with children and want to be part of a committed and caring team, we’d love to hear from you. Explore our current opportunities and start your journey with us today:

http://www.channelsandchoices.co.uk/careers/vacancies

Parent Mental Health Day 2025

On Parents Mental Health Day, we would like to raise awareness about the importance of good mental health. Talking openly about your mental health for foster carers should be standard and it should certainly not be a taboo subject. 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience mental health issues each year according to the NHS and foster carers are no different.

In fact, by nature of what they do, foster carers are more exposed to more risk factors that contribute to mental health issues. This can include being exposed repeatedly to another’s subconscious trauma, disturbing stories and disclosures of traumatic events, including cruelty, abandonment, abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, substance abuse, domestic violence, trafficking and more.

The health and wellbeing of foster carers plays an integral role in carers’ ability to effectively look after children. However, many foster carers are reluctant to discuss or report any mental health issues due to fear of losing the children in their care or their registration. Unfortunately, this means that symptoms are often ignored which can lead to more emotional and physical problems, burnout and can impact on placement stability and stable placements are key to good outcomes for fostered children.

Foster carers invest a significant amount of time and effort in safeguarding the mental well-being and happiness of the children in their care, at Channels & Choices we place emphasis on providing a high level of therapeutic support to help them navigate the challenges involved in fostering and to also ensure their own well-being.

Being a foster carer can be immensely fulfilling, it involves nurturing a child’s healing and growth, witnessing them thrive and reach their potential. However, fostering extends beyond providing a home; it involves numerous meetings, appointments, and sometimes interactions with the children’s birth families, all of which can be demanding and occasionally emotionally challenging. The fostering journey is one that is not always straightforward, making it necessary for foster carers to prioritise their mental health alongside that of the children they care for.

At Channels & Choices, we pride ourselves on our unparalleled therapeutic support – as well as offering a 24/7 fostering support service, you also have access to our inhouse therapy team, as well as specialist support groups and locality groups for like-minded foster carers.

Like any “job,” the role of a foster carer has its challenges, and it is perfectly acceptable to seek help and support. You can’t effectively care for others if you’re running on empty, it is important to prioritise your well-being as a foster carer in order to provide the best possible care for the children who depend on you.

To find out more about the journey to becoming a foster carer why not download one of our brochures here

C&C Community Grant Fund Presentation Day

Seven grants awarded to local children’s groups and charities ahead of Christmas.

We awarded seven community groups and charities in South East Kent funding as part of our very first “Channels & Choices Community Grant Fund.” The grants aim to support community projects for children in the local area and almost one hundred local children’s organisations applied to access the funds!

The groups selected for funding include Dover Activity Park CIC, Pie Music Factory, TKO Folkestone Boxing Club, Music and Arts for the Shepway Community, Cross-Links, Includes Us 2 and Aylesham and Rural Community Heart.

Each organisation receiving the funding were invited to Channels & Choices Head Office at Kearsney Manor to collect a cheque, presented by Ross Barnet and Steve Davison, Directors of Channels & Choices.

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Ross Barnett, Director of Channels & Choices Therapeutic Children’s Services said: “We are delighted to be awarding our very first Channels & Choices Community Grants Fund. The scheme aims to empower groups to make a positive difference at the heart of our local communities – we hope that by supporting these projects we can help increase inclusion, participation and wellbeing for the children and young people in our South East Kent. We look forward to hearing about and following the positive impact that these organisations continue to make.”

Rowan Neame, Aylesham and Rural Community Heart said, “We cannot thank Channels & Choices enough for the help offered. The funds will be used to help teach children how to save lives in practical ways, without the use of first aid equipment or an adult’s help.

We are extremely humbled and grateful; we are simply just a group of parents who never want someone to lose a loved one because they did not have basic practical knowledge on how to help save a life – which is crucial when you live in a rural community.”

Lucy Ellis, Charity Manager, Includes Us 2 said, “We are thrilled to be awarded a grant from Channels and choices! We plan to purchase a VR headset—potentially two if funds allow—to provide innovative and engaging experiences. Additionally, we aim to invest in new sports equipment, leveraging the expertise of one of our youth workers, who is a fully qualified personal trainer and nutritionist, to promote fitness and wellbeing among our members.”

We look forward to continuing to work with each of these incredible organisations in the new year!

The C&C Community Grant Fund

Are you a sports team looking for sponsorship or a youth club looking for new equipment? Channels & Choices has just launched the “Channels & Choices Community Grant Fund”!
We recognise the importance of community and the immensely important role that local groups and clubs play in bringing our community together and providing opportunities for children and young people in our local area.
 
Channels & Choices Therapeutic Children’s Services is offering up to £3,000 in grant funding for youth groups and clubs based in South East Kent.
 
The programme provides assistance to community youth organisations or groups working towards specific projects, expanding existing services or have new needs that have been identified.
Bids for our first Channels & Choices Grants Scheme are being accepted now, and successful applicants will be notified in November 2024. To be eligible for a grant, an organisation must be not-for-profit and based in Southeast Kent.
 
To be considered, in the first instance please fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you. 

C&C Fostering’s 10th Birthday!

Happy 10th Birthday to Channels & Choices Fostering Department!

This week, Channels & Choices Fostering Department celebrated its 10th Birthday. In 2013 we expanded our services from residential care homes to include an independent therapeutic fostering agency with the purpose of supporting children from our residential houses to get back to family living as quickly as possible , our award winning ‘Stepping Stones” programme was then created. To our knowledge we are the only therapeutic fostering service to offer a completely integrated residential care to fostering step down program which is fully supported by our inhouse school and therapy team.

In that time, we’ve seen over 100 children placed with our amazing carers. The majority of these are long term placements and most children have successfully moved on to independence as they got older, but have forged long-term relationships with their foster carers and the wider C&C community .

We have a number of amazing Foster carers approaching long service milestones of five and ten years with us, which is a testament to Channels & Choices’ emphasis on providing a secure base for both our carers and families.

We’re proud to have seen some amazing progress with some of the young people in our care over these 10 years too: we’ve seen young people create positive outcomes for themselves and move onto college, apprenticeships and independent living and professional careers.

As an agency, we’re constantly evolving and with the help of our wonderful carers, through our ambassador programme, we’re able to now offer an industry leading allowance package alongside an excellent range of benefits including regular community events, celebrations, parties, days out and so much more. We are always looking for new and existing carers to join our multi disciplined team to work with our fantastic children and to help give them a brighter future through long term therapeutic fostering.

We’re incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved over the last 10 years and we’re excited about what the next ten years has in store. 

If you’d like to become a foster carer and help us celebrate our next birthday, request a simple consultation call by clicking the button below.

Request a call.

Forest School Update

At Channels & Choices we run regular fun activities at our Forest School. This is for all the children in the C&C community – fostering, residential and school. The forest school team have been working hard recently adding and updating the facilities…. 

Here’s what Kayleigh, our Forest School Leader has to say: 

“At Forest School we are working on some new areas of interest for the children, since our new fire circle has been added the children are enjoying the new open space and it has allowed us to have a designated area for the use of tools, to keep the children working safely and respectfully.

We are also having work done on our new Forest School huts which will be a great addition to the site. We will be using the space more so in the winter times when it is made difficult to be outside.

Over the summer we will be taking part in lots of Forest School activities such as den building, bug hunting, tree climbing, pond dipping, cooking on the fire and many more…..

The Skills to Foster

As part of the fostering assessment process, prospective foster carers are invited to attend our preapproval training course – ‘Skills to Foster.’

Using the course provided by The Fostering Network and incorporating additional information about Channels and Choices therapeutic approach, the course takes place over three days, usually one day a week for three weeks, although we also run a more condensed course in school holidays.

The course is an introduction to fostering and looks at the skills required to be a successful foster carer. Areas discussed include an introduction into the role of a foster carer, Identity and Life Chances, working as part of a team, Safe Care, Introduction to attachment. The course includes videos, PowerPoint presentations, case studies and activities.

We also outline how Channels and Choices work, looking at our therapeutic model.

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The course is part of the assessment and feedback is given to the assessing social worker, it is also a real opportunity for applicants to increase their knowledge around the fostering task and to re-assure themselves that fostering is right for them.

The course is not a series of lectures! It is interactive and very much discussion based. Each course takes on its own identity, formed by the participants and trainers. It is an opportunity to ask questions, engage in reflection, consider the impact on applicants who become foster carers and to think about the future evolution of their family and support network.

Channels and Choices will provide a range of team members including Social Workers, Therapists, foster carers and members of the residential team to interact with applicants to provide a full insight into our therapeutic community.

While the course is designed for new applicants, day two contains a strong Channels and Choices theme so we ask transferring carers to join us for that, although they are of course welcome to join the whole course. As well as providing an insight into some of the differences they will experience fostering within our community, existing cares are often able to provide valuable insight to new applicants.

For applicants that are still considering their final decision, Skills to Foster can be a valuable opportunity to add information ahead of committing to fostering. If you think this may be an option for you – we look forward to welcoming you soon.

If you’d like to find out more about becoming a foster carer, click on the button below and request a no-obligation call with our fostering admin team who can tell you more. 

Request a call

New Pay Structure for Foster Carers

Channels & Choices launches a brand-new increased pay structure for all foster carers.

We can all agree that with the cost of living crisis, the rise in fuel bills, food and basic expenditure, times are a bit tougher than they have been.

We regularly assess our benefits packages for foster carers and after sitting down with our “Fostering Ambassadors” we are delighted to announce that as of the 1st June, we have implemented a 10% pay rise across the board for all foster carers.

This means that a level 1 Therapeutic Foster Carer will receive £495 per child per week.

A Level 2 Advanced Therapeutic Foster Carer will receive £550 per child per week.

A Level 3 Specialist Therapeutic Foster Carer will receive £605 per child per week.

Alongside allowances and other benefits, a carer could receive up to £34,500 per year with just one child in placement.

A Level 3 Specialist Therapeutic Foster Carer with two children in placement will receive £65,720 per year.

Of course, that’s alongside the specialist training, expert support 24/7 and complimentary invitations to all the amazing community events that Channels & Choices regularly hosts, enabling you to meet other carers and help the child you are caring for improve their social skills amongst their peers.

Talk to our team

Fostering as a single person

Can you be a foster carer if you’re single?
The short answer is “yes of course!” Your relationship status is not a defining factor of whether you can foster or not. As long as you are over 21 years old and have a spare room, these are the only initial requirements prior to an application. Once you have met these requirements, the application process can be started.

In fact, being a single person can sometimes be an advantage – there could be a situation where the preference is for a child to be placed with a single male or female foster carer.

That being said, fostering on your own can be challenging in an emotional way without having someone to share the load – that’s why here at Channels and Choices we support you every step of the way and you’re never alone.

When you’re a foster carer with Channels and Choices you’ll be assigned a dedicated social worker. Our social workers have smaller caseloads than many other agencies so they’ll get to know you better and you’ll be able to develop an understanding directly with them.

As a single foster carer, being with Channels and Choices can also be the perfect way to increase your network and meet like-minded people! We run regular events which you, your foster child and also your birth children (if applicable) will be invited to attend – this includes Easter Egg hunts, fireworks night, Halloween parties, awards ceremonies and so much more.

You’ll also be part of small support groups called “pods” which is a fantastic chance for you to catch up with other Channels and Choices foster carers who live near you to discuss issues and help each other in your fostering journey.   

Being a single person doesn’t need to be an obstacle in your fostering career. Request a quick consultation call with us today to get the ball rolling!    

Find out more here