Could You Be A Foster Carer?

Fostering is about more than just ‘parenting’. As a foster carer for Kingfisher you will care for someone else’s child in your own home, and you will be faced with situations that may be unfamiliar or difficult.

To be a foster carer you need to have time, patience, tolerance and energy and you will be expected to be able to:

Provide care for children and Young People by:

• A good standard of care which promotes healthy emotional, physical, sexual and intellectual development.
• Accepting the individual as he/she is.
• Means appropriate to the needs of the individual as he/she is.
• Working closely with birth families and others who are important to them.
• Setting appropriate boundaries and managing their behaviour within these, without the use of physical or other inappropriate punishment.
• Having knowledge of normal child development and an ability to listen to and communicate with them appropriate to their emotional age and understanding.
• Promoting their development towards adult status.
• Providing a spare bedroom for their exclusive use.
• Providing opportunities for leisure pursuits and development of life skills.

2. Provide a safe and caring environment by:

• Ensuring that children are cared for in a home where they are safe from harm or abuse.
• Helping children to keep themselves safe from harm or abuse, and to know how to seek help if their safety is threatened.
• Recognising the particular vulnerability to abuse and discrimination of disabled children.
• Recognising difficulties faced by children or young people in care who can be discriminated against.
• Responding to the difficult emotional issues which they will be having.
• Being aware of and committed to valuing difference in relation to ethnicity, religion, culture, disability, age and sexuality.

3. Work as part of a team by:

• Communicating effectively
• Working closely with the child’s family, social workers, teachers, medical staff, therapists, guardians and any others involved in the child’s life.
• Maintaining accurate records and keeping information confidential.
• Actively supporting educational participation and achievement.
• Attending training sessions and support groups.
• Attending meetings about the child or young person.

4. Promote your own development by:

• Appreciating how personal experiences have affected you and your family, and the impact that will be had on you all. Fostering must be something that you all want to do.
• Using people and links within the community to provide support.
• Using training opportunities to improve skills.
• Sustaining positive relationships and maintaining effective functioning through periods of stress.

You will need:

• To genuinely like and enjoy children and be able to remain enthusiastic about them even when things are difficult.
• To be able to accept that the child or young person may not be grateful for the care you show or that they may take time to respond to the care you offer.
• To understand that the child or young person may lie, steal or display sexualised behaviour and that things in your house may be messed up, moved or broken.
• To be able to accept and deal with anger from the child or young person.
• A good sense of humour.
• To be able to accept failure in yourself and others and the ability to learn from your mistakes and not give up.
• To be pleased with small steps of progress.
• A marriage, partnership or network of friends and family who, when necessary, can be reached out to for support and who can withstand the pressures of fostering.
• Empathy and openness towards children and young people who have been abused and neglected and for the parents who may have ill-treated or failed to protect their children.
• A willingness to acquire new skills and knowledge.

There is no such thing as a typical foster carer, like the children and young people they look after, carers come from differing backgrounds. However, they have one thing in common: they care about children and young people and want to help them through difficult stages in their lives.

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