Tuesday, August 28, 2018

QUALITY 15 MINUTES

When a new foster child arrives it's hard to keep up all your other responsibilities because you're so focussed on settling the newcomer in. You're ever on the alert for things that help you build the fullest picture of the child, learning about their personalities and how to make best use of who they are to help them towards being who they want to be. Take Ryder, who's settling in brilliantly....

Monday, August 20, 2018

BEST JOB IN THE WORLD

Our latest foster child, Ryder, a girl, has been with us about a month now. Thinking about it, it's amazing how quickly most foster children find a place in their foster family. I'm not saying they always ease cheerfully into the right slot, not saying they shine a light where before there was darkness, blimey not saying that at all. But what they often achieve is just as much a piece of human magic....

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

MILESTONES

There's a phrase I like; "The smallest fish are the sweetest." I'll tell you how I first heard the phrase shortly. In life our greatest moments are simply great, how could they not be? There are the traditional milestones if you are lucky enough such as falling in love, marriage day, birth of our children. We might be lucky enough to enjoy other milestones such as passing exams, getting that job,...

Thursday, August 09, 2018

THINKING ABOUT FOSTERING?

It's amazing how many people are interested in fostering but can't get past thinking about it. Literally, our next-door neighbours and the people who live diagonally opposite us have both let us know they are up for finding out more,  but this is the thing; They've been 'Up for finding out more' for YEARS.  They keep having inquisitive conversations with us which end in me saying I can...

Sunday, August 05, 2018

FOSTERING AND HAPPY DINOSAURS

One of the many things that social services and fostering agencies hope we foster parents to try to get right is keeping our foster home as normal a home as possible. Yeah. Right. I always think it's like trying to keep a rowing boat on the level when someone steps in with no balance. The thing rocks, everyone hangs onto the sides, then after a bit the newcomer stabilises and so does everyone else. Mind,...