About the Credo Care Foundation

  We know that disabled children need a lot of looking after. They are disadvantaged in so many ways and require expensive resources just to begin to live a normal, happy life. Others have medical needs so complex that it seems they will have to spend their lives in hospital rather than in their own home. Some, distressingly, will pass away in hospital never knowing the stable environment that should be theirs.

Thankfully, there are those who make the active decision to become foster carers for these children and open up their homes to them. There are others, respite carers, who offer a temporary home to these children so that their parents and carers can take a break from the intensive work that these little ones need.  This is where the problem starts.

Imagine wanting to look after one of these children only to find that your doors are not wide enough for a wheelchair, that your bathroom is too confined to bathe them safely or that you don’t have the expensive sensory equipment to stimulate their brains and help them grow. Now, you can apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) from the local authorities, but often they will not be able to fund the whole project, will not take individual circumstances into consideration and the times taken while they consider the applications don’t address the immediate need. Further, if you are trying to become a foster carer, the local authority will often require that you are looking after a disabled child before you can apply for the DFG. This would mean that you would need to have to have the adaptations in place before you can apply for the DFG to fund those adaptations – that’s a Catch 22 situation! Further, DFGs are not always available for every need. A DFG might pay for the first specialist vehicle needed to transport a child, but it will not fund a second. 

The money falls short; the child needs that work done; what do you do?

The Credo Care Foundation exists to ease this problem by providing grants that will make up the shortfall between the funds that a foster carer, or a respite carer receives and what their project needs.

Founded in the Spring of 2026, the Credo Care Foundation is a new enterprise seeking to raise at least £160,000 in its first year so that, beginning in the Spring of 2027, foster carers and respite carers can apply for these grants. These applications will be judged by an independent assessment board made from professionals in the field and grants given based on their recommendations.

The Credo Care Foundation is the product of the thinking of Roy Hipkiss and Damien Mead who founded the award-winning Credo Care Fostering Agency in 2000 for the express purpose of placing disabled children and those with complex medical needs. They have seen first-hand the commitment and devotion of these carers and the difficulties that they face, and, from these difficulties, the Credo Care Foundation was born. 

Dr Mead and Dr Hipkiss have much experience in helping foster carers and disabled children. Dr Hipkiss' experience as a social worker has exposed him first hand to the problems that face both foster carers and the children they look after. As directors of the fostering agency, they have seen the difficulties and the joys that come with the business of caring and they remain committed to ensuring that both carers and children have all that they need to thrive.

To illustrate the vital need for our work, there many examples of how a grant could have made a difference to its carers. We present two real-life examples where the Credo Care Foundation could have contributed to the costs of these projects. 

1) Carer X looks after three children with significant disabilities. Her house has had to be adapted to accommodate specialist wheelchairs. The bathroom has had to be altered to become a wet room and accommodate the specialist equipment for bathing. The two bedrooms have had to be altered to accommodate the hoists and specialist beds. The Carer was able to get a DFG and use her own funds but the shortfall was met by the fostering agency which reduced funds for other foster carers’ needs. The Credo Care Foundation could have met this shortfall.

 

2) Carer Y provides respite care for disabled children. He has transformed the garage space in his house to make a separate bedroom and bathroom for a disabled child. Since he provides respite care rather than full-time care to a single child, he is severely restricted in what he could receive from DFGs because he does not have any one child for a great length of time. Again, the fostering agency was able to contribute to the shortfall, but this could have been alleviated by a grant from the Credo Care Foundation.

 It might seem obvious that, if we are successful in our enterprise, we can make a big difference to the lives of these children as well as foster and respite carers. It will also mean that those people who have longed to help these children but lack the funds to make the alterations can, at last, make a home for a child. Further, with more foster carers and respite carers, fewer disabled children will live out their days in hospitals meaning that they will find their care at home, and the hospitals will have more facilities at their disposal, taking the pressure from everyone.

As we stated above, the Credo Care Foundation needs to raise £160,000 this year and each year to make grants to foster and carers as well as covering the administrative costs. Some projects, such as acquiring specialist equipment, might cost about £1,000 which the Foundation might be able to fund outright. Other projects which might involve radical structural alteration might cost £20,000 which the Credo Care Foundation might provide a sum of about £10,000 in match funding. 

We are therefore approaching funding bodies asking for donations. In an ideal world, donations of £25,000 would be fantastic! Of course, the reality is somewhat different, and we appreciate any and all donations which support our work, particularly in the region of £10-15,000 from those grant making bodies. 

We also appreciate greatly donations from individuals who share our values. If you wish to help us help those who care, then please follow the links below. We are very grateful for any and all donations.

  With your donation, you will have built that wet room in the house of a carer who has chosen to look after a child who cannot wash themselves. With your donation, you will have widened the doors so that a child in a wheelchair can get around their new home easily and interact with their new families. With your donation, you will have provided that hoist for that child nearing the end of her life so that she can spend her last months at home with people who truly care for them. Your donation will help those who truly care to do more in their own home, and it will be your kindness that makes this happen. 

Please join us in bridging the gap for those who care.