December 2011

Dear Carers,

We all appreciate that fostering is a family commitment but for too long the essential role our own children play in welcoming foster children into our homes has not been addressed. Your foster carer association has sought to bring the needs of children who foster into focus and we recently commissioned a study to explore the challenges and benefits that fostering can present to the children of carers. Through an initial questionnaire, followed up by a series of workshops we have confirmed that a number of our children wish for greater understanding and awareness of the fostering process as it affects them. Their concerns range from ‘Why does he/she behave in this way? What do I do if I am told a secret? Why are they being cruel? etc. On a positive note the same children advised that fostering was a maturing experience, made them more appreciative of their own circumstances et al.

As a consequence of the work done we have sought to initiate a plan of action with Social Services (who until now have remained completely uninvolved in our research). It is important to state that the proposals are designed to augment and support the preparation we undertake with our children and not act as a substitute or replacement for the essential and age appropriate awareness that you with your unique knowledge are best able to judge and initiate. Accordingly we are proposing various initiatives that may benefit some of our children and will include Support Groups, Surgeries, Advice line and other actions which will be age appropriate. These will be supplemented by training and the continuation of various social activities including PGL, pantomime etc.

To discuss this with you in more detail either Tina Henderson or myself aim to attend as many support groups as we can in January/February and look forward to exploring this with you at that time.

And now for something completely different, (well a bit different anyway!).  Can I please ask that you complete and return the contact survey we recently dispatched (further copies of which are available on our website). Your views and experiences on this really do matter!

Wishing you all seasonal greetings,

Regards,

Fred Livings, Chair