Who would be okay at fostering?
There's no answer to that. If you think it might be you, give someone a phone call. Blue Sky's number is on the homepage. Worth an exploratory chat. It's what I did, turned out alright.
The key skill for me is that you can tune into a young person who is having a bad time, and you have a spare bedroom.
I've always thought that ex-teachers and nurses ought to...
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
HOW DO FOSTER CHILDREN REMEMBER THEIR FOSTER HOMES?
A few weeks ago I nearly found myself driving past the house where I was born.
When I say 'born', I mean the house I was brought up in after being born in a hospital.
What I mean by 'nearly' is that I was en route from somewhere to somewhere else and the journey took me a couple of miles from the house.
So I did what everyone does, and went out of my way to deliberately drive past the...
Thursday, April 23, 2015
CAN YOU BE TOO OLD TO FOSTER?
A lot of people, in fact the vast majority, come into fostering later in life.
By no means all though. I recently met two new couples who've just joined Blue Sky who are in their twenties.
Most couples wait until their own children have got a toehold on life.
There's no average age to start, well there probably is an average age if you did the maths, but that wouldn't mean it was the ideal age,...
Saturday, April 18, 2015
WHO'S HAPPY?
It's Saturday afternoon, the sun is out. The French windows are open for the first time this year, April, not bad.
I was drowsing on our swing seat with my iPad hot on my lap, other half watching sport in a darkened front room.
Birds are singing, there's been the odd buzz from an optimistic bee, or maybe it was just a bluebottle, whatever, the sounds are lovely.
There's one extra sound...
Thursday, April 16, 2015
FOSTERING AND JEREMY KYLE
Jeremy Kyle Jeremy Kyle Jeremy Kyle.
You can't get more than a living room's length from him in fostering.
We've lectured so many of our teenage foster children about the good and bad of the Jeremy Kyle Show.
The fact is it's right up their alley, and actually given that we can sit and watch it with them it's not without its uses.
We were sitting round the TV waiting for the Grand National when...
Sunday, April 12, 2015
TO LOVE OR NOT?
There's something one of our foster children once said that will stick in my mind forever, or at least as long as I foster.
The exact words were;
"I didn't know that foster parents could love you"
As is often the case in fostering you get moments where the child says or does something and you need to sit everybody down and talk for a psychologist's hour (50 minutes) and settle the issue.
Psychologists...
Wednesday, April 08, 2015
FOSTERING AND THE PHONE
I'm getting fed up with cold calls. No surprise there.
Phone rings, you pick up. After a couple of second's silence a voice comes in "Am I speaking to Mrs....?"
I used to reply"Who is this?"
They have a stock set of replies which they read from a script. You say X and they say Y. I try to make it clear, without saying so, that I'm not stupid or bored or vulnerable in any way, but they are hard...
Friday, April 03, 2015
FOSTERING AND YOUR FAMILY
One of the things you don't realise before you go into fostering is how much every little experience in your home can contribute to a child ending up on the right side.
This is especially true when it comes to your family. Not just your partner and children, if you have any. I'm talking about your own parents, grandparents, your brothers and sisters.
If a child is with you for any length of time,...