When a child or young person comes into care, they will probably be feeling confused and frightened. This is likely to be a very stressful period for them. It is therefore important that as a foster carer you try to understand how they might be feeling and attempt to put them at ease. Some things…
Fostering with your own young children can be an additional challenge, not just due to managing several sets of school runs or clashing bath and bedtimes, but all the other factors of running a fostering household such as being available for social worker meetings, family contact etc, that invariably clash with someone’s nap time! This…
There are many parents and foster carers that are already caring for children with additional needs, such as: physical disabilities learning disabilities autism adha/adhd medical needs mental health issues They know the difference they can make in supporting that child’s confidence, advocating on their behalf, and giving them time and opportunities that every child or…
Starting the fostering assessment is an exciting time for your whole household, and one of the first things people think about is getting the fostering bedroom ready for the child. As the assessment process takes approximately four to six months, you have plenty of time to plan and get this done! It is important that…
There are two regular placement officers at UK Fostering who cover our 4 regions. The role of a placement officer requires a variety of skills as matching foster placements in relation to a child’s needs, background, and practical factors, is complex and involves quite a few people in the decision-making process. Placement officers need to…
Foster Care Fortnight was started by The Fostering Network, which is a leading national fostering information charity, and is now an annual event to: “raise awareness of the transformational power of fostering and to celebrate the fostering community”. (the fosteringnetwork.org.uk, 2021) So often television, film, and other media, do not give particularly accurate representations of…
The Federation of Children’s Book Groups (FCBG) is an organisation that was started in the 1960s, in response to parent’s and carer’s desires to learn more about children’s books, and how to encourage children to read more. Children’s Book Groups were created all over the UK, and the Federation serves to link them all together.…
As foster carers you are not expected to navigate fostering alone. You will have lots of support and training from UK Fostering, including your own supervising social worker (SSW) who will get to know you, your household, and young people well. They will visit you regularly at home and be available on the phone to…
When a child enters foster care for the first time, or is moving to a new foster home, then they may be worried about where they are going and what will the people that are caring for them be like. This could be very stressful for them. Therefore, during the later stages of the assessment…
It was around this time last year when I last wrote about how we had just started to work from home following government guidance to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Like many people, the kitchen table had initially become my office, however gradually led to the spare room finally being cleared out and turned…