PARALLEL PARENTS
Who are Parallel Parents?
Parallel Parents is an independent fostering agency that has been established for over 25 years. As a family-owned and run agency, we believe that our deeply personal, child-focused approach is what truly sets us apart.
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We are immensely proud to have achieved the highest possible rating of "Outstanding" from Ofsted for five consecutive inspections. Our most recent inspection in December 2024 reaffirmed our position as a leader in the fostering sector, marking over a decade of continuous excellence. To find out more about our latest Ofsted inspection, please Click here.
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Our first priority is always the child or young person in our care. We believe that children have the right to a safe, stable and nurturing foster home, and our overarching aim is to recruit skilled and resilient foster carers who are able to offer children a positive substitute family experience where it is not possible for them to live with their own family.
Supporting Our Carers, Empowering Our Youth
We strive to offer excellent support to our foster carers so that they can, in turn, provide the best possible level of care to the young people they look after. Our goal is simple: we want our foster carers to be the best they can be.
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By providing consistently high standards of care, our experienced team of social workers supports a range of needs-led placements. We are equipped to meet the diverse, individual, and often complex needs of the children and young people we look after, ensuring every placement is handled with expertise and empathy.
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Aiming for Positive Outcomes
We always aim to provide young people with the best possible experience of being looked after.
This includes:
Support to thrive: Providing the tools to achieve positive outcomes.
Safety and Security: Ensuring every child feels protected and heard.
Confidence and Aspiration: Giving young people the motivation to dream big and do their best.
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Continuous Improvement
Excellence is a journey, not a destination. We continually strive to improve our service provision, with a rigorous emphasis on matching, quality, support, and safeguarding. This proactive approach is what has allowed us to maintain our "Outstanding" status for over a decade.
Learn More
You can read our Statements of Purpose Here.
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When you become a Parallel Parents foster carer, you'll have access to Spectrum. Spectrum is a hub ran by Emma Furness to help support foster families who look after young people with sensory difficulties, Anxiety, Autism, ADHD and signs of trauma-triggered behaviours. Emma will support these families throughout their journey by providing help with learning new strategies or new knowledge around Autism and ADHD.
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Emma has 14 years lived experience with her own children, along with a Masters Degree in Children with Autism and is currently completing a PhD to explore behaviours and diagnosis.
While Emma specialises in Autism and ADHD she is also a Sensory Needs Practitioner and will be delivering 'Sensory Processing' training in all areas throughout this year. Emma can also complete a sensory assessment, to provide a sensory diet for our young people.
Please watch the video for more information
WHY CHOOSE PARALLEL PARENTS
READ OUR OFSTED REPORT
WHAT OUR FOSTER CARERS SAY ABOUT US
READ OUR STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
OUR STORY SO FAR...
Founders Sean and Ellen Fitzpatrick have over 40 years of extensive experience working with children and young people in a wide variety of settings including youth work, juvenile justice and residential child care.
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Sean and Ellen started Care Today (a sister organisation of Parallel Parents) in 1991 as a residential children's homes provider.
Through their work in residential homes they identified that the majority of young people are likely to make better developmental progress in a family environment. So, in response to requests for foster placements from Local Authorities, they decided to branch into fostering and Parallel Parents was born.
The first foster carers recruited in 1994 brought about the creation of Parallel Parents, which started as a 'not for profit' family-run fostering service. The agency remains a family-owned and run fostering service, and the experiences of the founders have created a strong child-centred and innovative ethos.
Parallel Parents Central is dually managed by Debbie Smith and Bev Salt. Both have been integral parts of the team for many years.
Over time, the company has expanded to cover a wide geographical area. From the original two carers in Bolton, Parallel Parents now have dedicated Social Workers and foster carers all over Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, the East Midlands, the West Midlands and Worcestershire. We are continually looking to develop and expand our agency, and hope to continue our innovative and "Outstanding" fostering service.
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Apply now!
Start a rewarding career in which you can make a real difference. We will fully train and prepare you to be a great foster parent and help give a less fortunate child a brighter future.
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We give you all the support information you need to get started as a foster carer. If you have a question that hasn't been answered by our website, feel free to start a quick web chat with us, email us, or give us a call, and we'd be delighted to answer your query!