Baby Bear was initially borne out of a sense of frustration rather than any creative urge to write my first children’s book! I was working for a domestic abuse organisation at the time supporting parenting and children impacted by living with domestic abuse and violence. I always took a range of books with me to…
What is a trauma ‘anniversary’ and what does it mean for those caring for children who have had a difficult, often traumatic start in life? Our body and brains ability to store trauma so that key events can trigger a reaction without us knowing why is linked to our primitive survival response. We remember how…
As some of you may know I, Tim McArdle am also the co-founder of the charity Ukindo . Although Ukindo an an entity is fairly new, I have supported children in care to travel to India for the last ten years, spending time in IB School in Rohtak and experiencing the incredible and vibrant culture…
One Route to Education Feeling so tired, opportunity bare, Everyone telling me that I really should care, But I don’t see a future, it’s not worth the fight, It’s a new chance for failure, try as I might. They say to go back, to catch up on those years, To finally get moving and move…
I’m Ben and I’m eleven years old, my mum is a foster carer. My mum is a single mum and she has fostered kids for the past five years. Most of the time I love my mum fostering, I got used to having other kids here and when we had a bit of a break…
I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone, but I always feel very excited when a placement call comes through. The snippets of information you get about a child or young person that could come into your home and heart always get me thinking. The problem is that the referral that follows usually include…
My earliest memories are quite good my reason for this is that I am from a travelling community and I have travelled a lot. It all started most in a house some in a caravan on the back roads of nowhere. I might as well call myself a traveller as I have seem most parts…
When I was asked if I’d be able to put down a few words to share my experience of being approved as a foster carer for a full year, I was jokingly told, by a couple of people I might add, to “make sure you don’t put potential carers off!”. It made me chuckle –…
How trauma can trigger trauma in foster care When I was thinking about secondary trauma in fostering, as I often do, I went on a bit of a thought-fuelled journey as I thought about the topic from various angles. Should I be exploring? 1. Vicarious trauma? 2. Post-traumatic stress? 3. Secondary trauma? 4. Something else?…
I’ve worked in this sector for approximately 13 years and seen tens of thousands of referrals for children which either whirl their way through the internet to my office or arrive following a frantic phone call to my team. One thing that I can’t fail to notice is how a label can have a profound…