Foster Care Fortnight It’s Foster Care Fortnight 2015 and these next two weeks will see the sector talking to the rest of the country and for many, hearing something about fostering for the first time. Having worked in the sector for over 13 year I’d be forgiven for thinking that everyone must know what fostering…
I have always struggled with children being described as ‘angry’ or doing things because they ‘are angry’. How can a child or anyone be one simple emotion, unless it is to make things more straightforward and ‘tidy’ for the adults around them? Why is this such a problem for me? Because it seems so damning…
Many of us have now seen the KFC advert or if not will do soon on a TV somewhere. In the advert a young boy is shown arriving on his first day of foster placement and sitting down with his foster carers to share KFC that evening. The story goes on to show him playing…
When we are doing our very best to care both emotionally and practically for a child who seems to be unaware of this and to reject our efforts, it can touch us in a deeply personal way. It may trigger a sense of frustration that our best does not appear to reach them or be…
Equine facilitated learning and equine therapy are growing in popularity throughout the UK and other countries. In general terms they use horses and ponies to help people learn about challenges they may be facing, and explore ways to work through these challenges. There are many types of equine facilitated learning and equine therapy. Stable Relationships…
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…
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…
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 –…
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…