Shrewsbury-based New Chapters Fostercare (NCF) was established by Craig Walton, Martin George and Rosie Cavalot in 2014, along with five fostering households. The small group of child-focused foster parents in Shropshire were dissatisfied with their respective organisations and so they decided to investigate setting up their own fostering agency to improve the care and support given to them and the children in their care.
Their first step was to approach a manager who shared their beliefs and had the qualities to make this happen. Two further professionals were vital to build this team and once they were on board, the work to create the agency began. Ofsted rated it as ‘good’ in 2015 and ‘outstanding’ in 2020 and again in 2024. Today the company employs 13 office staff and has 40 foster parents and 47 children on its books.
A trauma-informed therapeutic model for foster care
Seven years ago, NCF adopted PACE, a model developed by clinical psychologist Dr Dan Hughes, with the aim of enabling adults to build safe, trusting and meaningful relationships with children and young people who have experienced trauma.
In short, PACE stands for:
- Playfulness – a playful stance adds elements of fun and enjoyment to day-to-day life and can diffuse a difficult or tense situation.
- Acceptance – a child’s inner life is not right or wrong, it simply is. Acceptance of this is at the core of their sense of safety.
- Curiosity – how, without judgement, children become aware of their inner life and reflect upon the reasons for their behaviour.
- Empathy – through empathy a foster parent demonstrates that they know how difficult the experience is for a child and that they will not have to deal with it alone.
NCF emphasises that “compassion is at the heart of this approach – a quality that enables foster parents to empathise with others and offer the support they need. Compassion creates a more caring and inclusive fostering service that can respond to the diverse needs of the community.”
Counsellors have seen the benefit of PACE
Julie Brown, a former secondary school SEN support worker and qualified counsellor, has been approved as a foster parent for NCF since 2017. She said: “I joined NCF when the therapeutic model had just been adopted by the agency and I soon realised the efficacy of the training provided by NCF which embraces ‘connection before correction’ where, for example, rather than jumping in to immediately correct a child’s behaviour, an understanding of what the child needs from the foster parent is first sought. Since then, I can see how the agency overall has benefitted from the approach. Looking after everyone associated with NCF is what it does exceptionally well.”
NCF director Rosie Cavalot qualified as a psychotherapist in 2015. During the agency’s move from a solutions-focussed model to PACE, she completed levels one and two in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) and now practises using a DDP-informed approach. Cavalot said: “While there are several approaches including CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) and psychodynamic therapy (unconscious processes as they are manifested in the client’s present behaviour), we felt that from our own experiences of working in the sector prior to establishing NCF, the trauma-informed model was the best way forward.
“It has not only helped to identify early trauma and thus develop safe and secure relationships between our foster parents and their children, but enabled positive working relationships between our staff, foster parents and social workers, which in turn has led to high retention rates within NCF and two ‘outstanding’ Ofsted reports. It is not only an excellent parenting model, but one we have adopted and developed to run a successful business.”
Get involved
NCF has a “mission to recruit local foster parents to support local children, and to provide a safe and loving home for every child so they can start a new chapter in their lives”. Their vision is that “in our care children will recover from their trauma, boosting their self-worth, and empowering them to believe in their dreams”. Beyond their 18th birthday, we maintain the relationship that has been built by keeping in touch – meeting for a coffee, or giving advice, and hope to make their dreams become a reality.
If you’d like to help, get in touch with New Chapter Fostercare on their website, on Instagram and Facebook.
This is an edited version of a press release from Stella Six PR.
