Compass Fostering Reviews 103

Very professional & supportive throughout the whole application process

From the moment we enquired at Compass Fostering we’ve had nothing but expert knowledge, kindness, professionalism and honesty.

Its hard to comment at the minute, we have been waiting since Christmas for a placement and are just going through a planed placement at the minute.

Amazing. Had a very positive through assessment. Social worker was very supportive and we are looking forward to our first placement! 🙂

Went through the process during lockdown so took longer than normal but enough assistance throughout

When I contact staff members to help me with a particular query or problem about my job as Foster Carer, they are always very supportive and they get back to me quickly and efficiently directing me in the right track.

Very supportive, friendly and quick to respond during our process so far.
They have been very professional during the entire process and we would definitely recommend.

Very well organised assessment process, good and constant communications, friendly team, lots of useful information provided. Great social worker allocated to me during assessment process who supported me exceptionally well throughout.
Only negative was that when I received my Compass Welcome Pack once approved, the welcoming letter was addressed to somebody else not me (obviously a copy and paste error)

Bitterly disappointed in Compass.

This being my first placement and feel I’ve had no back up support at all!

The child is extremely difficult and has such complex needs in which I’ve had no experience with.

I have already resigned from this position. Which saddens me deeply. I spent a lot of time and money getting my property up to Compass expectations but feel let down.

I've worked for Compass for 4 years now, and have had endless support, encouragement and access to training. I've had regular pay reviews and have also been promoted, it's a great business to work for career wise.

If you want to work or foster with an agency that puts the child at the centre of everything they do, Compass are the agency for you.

We began the process of becoming Foster Carers - a few months in, we received a call stating our application was being ceased. When pushed, the social worker stated it was due to a negative article, from 5 years previously, of a different branch of a Christian church that we are involved in.
The cessation was later explained away as a mistake but only after we had challenged it on the grounds of discrimination and showed the falsehoods contained therein; despite the social worker doing her best to avoid such discussion.
Subsequently that social worker removed herself from our case and, after 3-4 weeks, no other social worker had been informed to us.
We made a formal complaint on a number of counts including Religious Discrimination: needless to say Compass Fostering finally reported back, blaming a simple misunderstanding for the interruption to our application.
Unfortunately we felt unable to proceed any further with Compass Fostering due to the breakdown in trust with them.
We were upset by the experience, whilst we may apply elsewhere, we would never consider working with Compass Fostering.

Having worked with compass for a few years, I feel it was better managed previously . The new management has there own agenda and they haven't paid me for the work I did for them, knowing I cannot do anything. But I want to wish them the best with my money 💰.

Applied to be a foster career with my partner and were told we have a limited social network and no experience. This makes the review seems biased but the feedback doesn't make sense and the comments re it were plain insulting. My partner's family lives round the corner to us but can't be counted because his mum works and sister has kids. His dad and brother are being ignored completely as neither of them work or have children to look after and they won't tell us the reason for this. We don't have a lot of experience with children and were willing to look into volunteering but we aren't being considered because of the social network. They have instead told us to make friends with complete strangers to get them to look after any kids if we need them to. Again we have friends but they work so the conclusion is only apply if you have 'friends' who don't work and are happy to look after your children. Family doesn't count. In the meantime we have been accepted by another agency who have said we have a brilliant social network and lots of experience. If you are applying to be foster parents don't bother with compass, it has almost been four weeks now and they still haven't told us whether we are going to be accepted but we assume it is a no.

I applied to become a foster carer through Compass' Facebook page. They were extremely quick and helpful when sending me all the information i needed. When a member of the company got in touch with me, they were extremely helpful in answering any questions or doubts that i had. I would highly recommend approaching Compass Fostering if you are looking to become a foster carer!

I have been with Compass for 18 months now, and my journey has been very positive, I have felt well supported along the way. My supervising social worker has 'had my back' when I've needed her to and always returns my calls if she doesn't answer straight away. Other methods of support are available to me such as training, support groups and supervisions each month, however, I have on occasion telephoned my SSW just to let off steam. Fostering is a tough job, and you need to be strong to do it, but with the right support it can be an amazing experience, and with Compass I cannot fault my experience with them.

After being approved almost a year ago and no placement or a helpless kid in sight l quickly realised it's best to review foster agencies before you waste a lot of time with a completely useless one. Sadly some social workers are so used to dealing with the downs and out in society that they can't tell when they are dealing with a decent person. They treat you like the people they took the kids off. Dont get depressed when they call you and you know they are are not telling you the truth. Get your self a good job and live your life. There are good agencies out there. Transfer to another if you really want to foster. Local authority foster agencies are by far the best. Try them. Good luck.

If you are thinking of fostering my first response would be don't. however if you are persistent on doing it then avoid this company like the plague. There is a reason they are losing social workers and carers hand over fist. It has become an informal motto of compass that 'placements do not breakdown' what does this mean, well it means when they tell you all the great things about the child and gloss over all the negatives, and you then find yourself months later in despair and fear they will not help you, well as mentioned 'placements do not break down'. Not to mention you will get zero support, sub rate training if any at all, and then package this whole thing up in duplicitous behaviour, bare faced lies and a staggering amount of self covering. Expect to attend meetings and cover for them because they didn't attend. The motivating behind compass became very clear, money money money, this is bordering on child farming, i see very little to actually to do with helping the children or carers, in fact i saw nothing to help the children, even when requested, help was ignored, they are very good at ignoring, believe me. if you know what's good for you avoid, find a smaller less ruthless agency. Because these people will be nowhere to help you.