From its very beginnings, which date back 135 years, CANW is a charity that has been dedicated to supporting children and young people who need help.

CANW can trace its history the whole way back to the founding of the original Blackburn Orphanage by Scottish philanthropist James Dixon (1855-1936). Mr Dixon founded the orphanage in 1886 and although the world has changed since the late nineteenth century, children and young people still need love, protection and support. Many of the issues that caused children to be placed in that early orphanage still exist today, and this is why CANW continues to evolve to meet the needs of children and young people.

All these years later, CANW still shares many of Mr Dixon’s values and is proud to uphold them every day. This is particularly apparent when it comes to CANW’s history of fostering. The charity has now provided fostering services for more than 20 years.

Every penny of income goes towards supporting children and young people.

CANW’s fostering agency, Foster with CANW, has a crucial point of difference when you compare it with many other fostering agencies.  Rather than being part of a much larger corporation, with shareholders to be accountable to and profit margins to achieve, CANW is a non-profit making, charitable organisation. So every penny of income goes towards supporting children and young people.

For CANW’s foster carers, this means Foster with CANW can provide additional funding boosts for school holidays and birthdays, which helps foster carers meet extra expenses throughout the year. What’s more, activities are delivered throughout the school holidays that both birth children and looked after children can access. The newly-formed CANW Club also provides an opportunity during school holidays for all the foster children to come together to make memories and get involved in lots of fun activities.

As well as two weeks paid respite allowance for foster carers each year, whole family days out are also arranged for all members of the fostering family to enjoy. Funds can also be made available to support children in foster care so they can access community activities in their local area too. Children in foster care, who have experienced trauma or who need counselling to deal with emotional and wellbeing issues, can also benefit from access to CANW’s therapeutic team for support.

Registered Manager – Fostering, Ian Charnock says,

“Unlike most LA’s and Private Equity owned fostering agencies, we remain small enough to still feel like we’re a family, but big enough to inspire the changes needed for carers and children in our service. If you’re thinking about fostering, please give Foster with CANW a call.”

Interested in becoming a foster carer with Foster with CANW and changing lives? Fill in our enquiry form to find out more https://canw.org.uk/what-we-do/fostering/about-fostering/