Fostering

What foster carers do

Apart from looking after children on a day to day basis and meeting their many individual needs, foster carers come into contact and work alongside other people who play an important part in the life of a child.

Most important amongst these are the child's family and foster carers have a vital role to play in enabling contact to take place. Others would include social workers, teachers, doctors and health visitors and occasionally members of the legal professions.

Don't panic - foster carers work as part of a team and help is always available to support you with these important areas.

What qualities do foster carers need?

It may sound silly, but foster carers will need to like children and keep liking them despite what may happen. Foster carers need to be patient, understanding, tolerant, flexible, open-minded, energetic, have a sense of humour and be prepared to stick with it.

We recognise that the above list can be demanding, so we offer regular training and support groups.

What foster carers can expect

Foster carers give generously of their time and efforts, yet may feel that they are getting little back in the way of acknowledgement, thanks or progress.

Carers may not see the benefit of their hard work for a long time as each child will develop, adjust and progress at their own pace. What might seem something unimportant to an adult may actually represent a massive step forward to a child.

Many experienced carers can look back and see the real difference they made to the lives of children and young people