Meet the team - Nicola Wilcox, Supervising Social Worker

Meet the team - Nicola Wilcox, Supervising Social Worker

Meet Supervising Social Worker, Nicola Wilcox, or as we all know her Nic. Nicola is not new to the world of fostering having grown up in a fostering family and then spending time in the fostering team at the local authority. She also spent a number of years working as a teacher which only goes to demonstrate her passion for supporting children to have the best lives, to reach goals and achieve happy, healthy futures.

Nic spent some time telling us all about her career and helping us get to know her a bit better personally too.

Which office do you work for?

I work from the Carmarthen office but I supervise foster carers across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ammanford

When did you start working for Calon Cymru?

I have been working for Calon Cymru since August 31^st, 2022. Before that, I worked with the Local Authority and spent some time in education.

What made you want to work in foster care?

When I qualified, my first post was as a Supervising Social Worker in a Local Authority in West Wales. I loved the variety of work, loved working with children and also with the foster carers. I am from a fostering family so perhaps I always knew I would end up ‘back in fostering’.

When I qualified in 2011, I worked for some years in a Local Authority Fostering team which I loved, but I had my own children and decided I needed to move closer to home to work. I then worked for the Children with Disabilities Team in a Local Authority, initially as a Social Worker and then as a Senior within the team. I loved the integrated working between health, education and social care because prior to being a Social Worker I was a primary school teacher for eight years.

The ‘pull’ of working with children who were looked after was big once again so I moved to a social work post in a Looked After Children’s team where I worked as a Senior Social Worker.  I wanted to move back into fostering but wanted a change and a challenge of something ‘completely new’ and I started to research independent fostering agencies. Calon Cymru stood out for me as many of their values linked with my own.

What part of your job do you like best?

I love all of it to be honest. I love that no day is the same. I love connecting with the foster carers I supervise and seeing their passion for what they do and the care they afford to vulnerable children. Working to support children and witnessing how they grow and flourish is also one of the best parts as I am passionate about ensuring children feel safe and secure. I believe good placements achieve positive outcomes. I also love to work with Local Authority Social Workers, I recognise I have a different ‘hat’ on now but love that I can transfer my childcare skills into my everyday work now.

I love being able to look at potential matches come in and thinking about which of my amazing foster carers would be a good match.

Tell us something people might not know about you

I have webbed feet! And whilst I can swim, I am not the strongest!!

I am a qualified primary school teacher having trained in 1997 – 2000 and worked for eight years as a teacher.

I love Disney and my favourite character is Sully from Monster Inc.!

Why would you recommend working with Calon Cymru Fostering?

I feel privileged to work for an organisation that values its foster carers (and staff!). I feel the support that Foster Carers and young people receive is fantastic. Calon has a ‘family feel’ and there is a real passion ‘from the top down’ that children come first- this is really important to me and for this reason, I would recommend anyone to work for Calon.

If you could give advice to someone interested in becoming a foster carer, what would it be?

Pick up the phone, ask questions, then ask some more! Never think there are such things as a ‘silly question’ even as workers we ask them at times too.

As I am from a longstanding fostering family, I believe the benefits to individuals/couples who foster are difficult to explain unless you have been within the wonderful world of fostering, but it is the most rewarding vocation and you will feel such a privilege to be part of someone’s life journey. I would say be realistic, things will never always be easy but the rewards outweigh the challenges.

Is there anything else you’d like to say or any stories that you’d like to share?

Think about what you would receive from a child in your care – we often speak about what the Foster Carers can offer but for me, it is what the child can offer to enrich our lives (this is from a personal standpoint!)