Meet the Team
Welcome to the Swiis Scotland fostering team
We support our carers to provide loving family homes to care experienced children and young people for as long they need it. If you foster with Swiis, you will be given an allocated Supervising Social Worker who will meet with you regularly and offer you advice and guidance.
We have a dedicated ‘on call’ service so you will always get the help you need when you need it regardless of what time of day or night. We also have therapists, involvement officers and resource workers who can provide extra support by agreement.
Although foster care takes place in your home, you will never be alone. You will have the chance to meet and build relationships with other carers formally and informally.
We run regular support groups and various exciting activities throughout the year which you will be invited to. If you have children of your own, it is important to us that they feel supported to. They will also be invited and included in the different opportunities we provide.
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“This is a fantastic company to work for. Lots of support, superb training. Always someone on the end of the phone if needed.”
Swiis employee
Who works at Swiis Foster Care Scotland?
Management Team
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Sam Arnott
Scotland Director
After completing an honours degree in Psychology, Sam went on to study social work at Glasgow University. After graduating, she joined Strathclyde Council in one of the last remaining generic area teams. Since 1999, Sam has held a range of management positions within local authority, NHS and third sector organisations. After joining Swiis in 2009, Sam was appointed as Scottish Director in June 2014.
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Amy Cumming
Director of Scotland
Amy has worked with children and families for over 30 years – firstly as a nursery nurse and then as a social worker. She joined Swiis in 2014 as Panel and Review Manager and in 2022, became a Senior Manager. Amy holds post qualifying awards in Child Protection, Care Management and also holds an Advanced Certificate in Professional Coaching. She is very happy to be part of an agency that places the child at the centre of it’s work and is committed to make sure that all children cared for by Swiis are loved and cared for. -
Neil Stewart
Operational Team Manager
Neil is the Operational Team Manager for the Dundee team. He is responsible for managing the team and working in a developmental way with them. -
Steph Potter
Admin Team Manager
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Dawn Bruce
Deputy Team Manager
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Frankie Ward
Deputy Team Manager
Supervising Social Workers
These are the people that offer help and support to our foster carers, meeting periodically to discuss problems, successes and everything in between.
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Karyn Brady
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Steve Clark
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Kirsty White
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Laura Wood
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Alanna Cairns
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Christine Jeffrey
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Tess Keogh
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Annie Arbuckle
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Josie Maguire
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Jenna Docherty
Education Advisor
Education Advisors promote achievement and attainment, continuity of learning and stability in educational placement for children in permanent foster placements.
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Sandy McLeod
Resource Workers
These are the people that offer emotional and practical support to young people, ensuring the safeguarding and smooth running of placement.
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Charley Finlayson
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Neil Pitcaithly
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Linzi Daldry
Administration and Support Team
Administrators and Support Staff at Swiis not only look after the day-to-day requirements of the office, but also act as the first point of contact to our carers and are an integral part of the team in ensuring all our carers are fully supported and very much a part of the Swiis family from the word go.
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Lesley Gilbert
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Roz Fleming
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Sandra Brown
Stability and Support Team
Swiis believe that supporting our foster carers well is essential to ensure the stability of the children and young people you care for and our social workers do an incredible job in providing that support to all carers.
Research and experience have however shown that children who experience trauma and separation in early childhood can have a turbulent and challenging adolescence and this may be a possible reason a home-finding arrangement can, at times, become unstable.
Swiis believe that our foster carers on occasion require additional support in understanding and learning techniques which would further assist in the management of difficult or challenging behaviours and have introduced an additional programme of support which our carers will be able to access directly. The programme has been specifically designed to offer support and guidance to carers who experience behaviours from the child or young person in a home-finding arrangement which they are finding difficult to manage.
The team consist of specialist training personnel who are responsible for delivering the Challenging Behaviour training as part of the mandatory foster carer training programme (or for new carers, this is undertaken as Day 4 of the preparation training), both cover Challenging Behaviour Family Engagement by Team Teach as part of the course content.
Foster carers can access The Stability and Support Team directly to request support for individual carers who are experiencing problems with behavioural issues in an arrangement. Calls from carers requesting support are managed via a dedicated admin team who will schedule a call back between the carers and a member of the Stability and Support team as a matter of urgency.
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Jordon Murdoch
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Jackie White
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Claire Turner
Home-Finding Team
The Home-Finding Team will identify a suitable referral of a child or young person in need of a fostering arrangement that matches the Foster Carer’s profile, the area they are based, approval range, family composition and fostering experience.
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Nirali Patel
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Stacey Slipper
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Bryony Ferris
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Rebecca Hewitt
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Oktawia Glimasinska
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Leanne Dennett
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Hannah Lockley
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Jessica Rowe
Recruitment Team
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Natasha Woods
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Sarah Kitson
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Rhiannon Payne
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Beth
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Kate
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Paige
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Ramila Rahman
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Lois Bennett
Support Group
We organise monthly support groups in Dunfermline, East Lothian, Alloa, and rotate monthly support groups in Glasgow and Ayrshire to ensure our carers have an opportunity to meet with staff and other carers for ongoing support. Regular ‘Men in Foster Care’ meetings also take place.
Awards
Opportunities for children and young people to achieve accredited awards is very important to us – it develops their talents and skills. The following awards and training opportunities are on offer to them –
- Volunteering Skills Awards at Levels 3 and 4
- Personal Achievement Awards at Level 1 and 2
- Sports Leader from Playmaker up to Level 5
- Hi5 Youth Scotland Awards
- Dynamic Youth Awards
- Asdan Awards
- Certified online First Aid Training
- Certified Equality and Diversity Training
Regions Covered
- Aberdeen City
- Aberdeenshire
- Angus
- Clackmannanshire
- Dumfries & Galloway
- East Ayrshire
- East Dunbartonshire
- East Renfrewshire
- Edinburgh City
- Falkirk
- Glasgow City
- Inverclyde
- Mid, West and East Lothian
- North Ayrshire
- North Lanarkshire
- Parts of the Highlands
- Perth & Kinross
- Renfrewshire
- South Ayrshire
- South Lanarkshire
- South, West, Central and North East Fife
- Stirling
- Tayside
- West Dunbartonshire
Office Information
Headquarters Address
Glenelvan House
Enterprise Way,
Carnegie Campus South,
Dunfermline,
Fife
KY11 8PY
0333 240 9049
Who works here
Director of Scotland
Social Workers
Therapist
Involvement Officers
Resource Team
Administration Team