"I Was Proceeding In A Westerly Direction..." Writing up a recording of your fostered child can be a bit of a drudge sometimes. And a bit scary too. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's this; when you foster a child, you have to keep a record of various things about how they're doing. Usually when they first arrive, you're asked to write one for each separate day. If things go okay, it...

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Love and Fostering. Do you love your partner more or less once you're fostering? I ask because St Valentines Day has just come and gone, and you may not have got a treat either. I think it changes things between a couple. You're not short of something to talk about for a start. On the minus side, lots of little tensions worm their way into the relationship. One of you thinks it's time to put your...

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I did something yesterday, in the daytime, I haven't done for years. Not since I started fostering.  I felt guilty at first, then felt a real buzz. I recommend it, if you can wangle the chance. What was it?  Nothing. Not a thing. I did not do a thing, between the morning school run and the afternoon school run. The Friday started normally enough; the breakfast routine, the getting out...

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I hope you have your antennae set to "Spot a compliment", otherwise you can easily miss it when they dish out a bit of praise. Your foster children I mean. They struggle to say thank you, don't they? Even if you pass the ketchup across the table as demanded, the best you can hope for, in most cases is a grudging grunt. I don't labour the please and thank you thing any more, don't even bother with...

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