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…
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?…
Left Ear And Ear Right I have these for listening, Left ear and ear right, Plus the bit in the middle, That struggles at night. The left ear is listening, To a whispering word, The right ear hears different, And all seems absurd. The bit in the middle, Well let’s call it ME, Is locked…
Top 10 Things Every Child Needs We asked our Facebook community what they considered were the top ten things that every child needs taking for granted that food, water and oxygen are necessary for any child. Thanks to all of you for your input. From the responses received we have identified our top 10. Did…
Acronyms, Labels and People Following on from a comment on one of our Facebook threads we decided to throw out to the Facebook world what they thought about the term LAC (Looked After Child) and the issue of labelling children in care. We were met with a sizeable response which included many opinions and views…
Kelly and her partner Dan have been foster carers for a year. Kelly and Dan live with their son aged 9 and their daughter aged 10. Kelly previously grew up as a child of a foster carer and was surrounded by foster children all of her life. Here she tells us of her first experience…
Missing In The Middle Neither one place and neither the other, Neither with Mum and neither with Brother, Stuck in a world in the middle of two, Feel safer in care but still missing you. Hearing you call and the voice is so strong, But living with you was all kinds of wrong, I’m sitting…
I can’t foster because I am single and not in a relationship or I am in a gay relationship Wrong The findings of a recent survey by ‘The Fostering Network’ suggested that approximately 10% of foster carers are single carers. Without finding any more definitive research, our anecdotal evidence (mainly in the South East of…
5 Must Have Foster Carer Qualities Patience How long does it take to process trauma? How do you undo years and years of neglect and fear? There is no timeframe. Children will develop at their own speed. They simply need foster carers that will walk alongside them through the process and have realistic expectations as…
Expectations of Fostering When we made the decision to be respite foster carers we were full of expectations. 1. It will be wonderful 2. It will be hard 3. It will test us 4. We will know what to do 5. We won’t know what to do 6. They will be very frightened 7. Their…