The story of Phoenix Community Care (PCC) first started in 2002 when we provided housing and support to children, young asylum seekers and child refugees that had just arrived alone in London.
One of the founders of PCC, Carla Mayer herself had just experienced the challenges of living in a temporary accommodation hostel in North London, where she came to identify the often-harsh realities of limited support that children and young people were receiving.
Along with family members, who were already successfully fostering for a local authority, PCC began by opening its first home in South Tottenham, offering accommodation and vital support to vulnerable young people. The need was and continues to be so great that PCC grew from one house to eight within three years of opening. Within this time, PCC was approached by a local authority who asked if we would consider moving into the fostering sector as an Independent Fostering Agency.
Since then we have developed the quality and breadth of our services to encapsulate provision of foster care for children who cannot remain in their birth families care.
Our aim is to always have the child at the focus of all considerations whether they be a fostered child, a child that has been trafficked or smuggled to the UK or a child refugee. We believe every child should have the right to a safe and stable home environment, where they feel loved and secure with carers who really care. As a number of staff continue to foster, we believe this has given us a deeper understanding of what the role involves, the complexities and challenge that our carers face and therefore a level of support which is founded on first-hand experience, based on many successful years of care.
The fact that we are a not for profit, registered charity means that that finances are ploughed back into our services to provide excellent support for our carers, ensuring they have the right skills, knowledge and resilience to promote best outcomes for the children.