If you foster with an agency as opposed to with your Local Authority you get better support. OK that's just my opinion, but it's how it seems to me.I'm not knocking Local Authority care and support of foster parents, but if a foster parent is with an agency they get not one but two social workers offering help, advice and support.A quick word to non-UK readers of this blog, obviously different...

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PARENT AND CHILD

 I went to a dinner thing many years ago, the guest speaker was an Air Traffic Controller.We used to live near a major airport and practically everyone we knew worked at the airport in one capacity or another.The speaker was chosen from an after-dinner speaker agency a) because he would talk about the airport, and b) because he was known to be terribly funny.He was hilarious.*His opening line...

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FOSTERING'S BIG QUESTION; WHO'S NEXT?

 When a foster child goes back to their real home, it means a number of things for the foster home.One stands out.You now have a spare bedroom, so the excitement begins again.We're in that boat today, now middle child has returned home.First up, Blue Sky check out where we're at with our fostering. They do this with all their foster parents who have a room available. They need to verify that...

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PUTTING ONE OVER

 Sometimes being in fostering has hidden perks.So there I was in the doctors' waiting room waiting my turn. I was wet and cold with the winter rain outside.I needed the doctor to see about a trapped nerve in my neck. It came on suddenly, I'd lain awake at night in discomfort, wondering where it had come from.Probably picking up toddlers and holding them to my right shoulder (have you noticed...

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FOSTERING THROUGH THE NIGHT

 Night time is always worth plenty of thinking about in fostering, because for the foster parent it can seem a lonely time. We get plenty of support, there's always someone at Blue Sky, or whatever one's agency or local authorority is, we can phone or email if there's something. During the day.But out-of-hours (night time), we inevitably feel a tad more alone. Blue Sky have a  24 hour...

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EACH CHILD IS UNIQUE

 Remember when we had a working class, a middle class and an upper class?And 'blue collar' workers and 'white collar' workers?No?I do. Ah, categorisation was easy not so long ago. Nowadays we have more 'demographies' than you can shake a stick at.Thanks to fostering I've come to treating each person as an individual and finding out their personal story rather than pigeon-holing them. My...

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DO WHAT YOU CAN

 As they grow up children develop two personalities, the public one that we all see, and the private one.If the child belongs to us we get to know both of their personalities and how to manage them.We usually know when our own child is upset about something but doesn't want to talk about it. We can often work out what it is; it might be a problem with a friend or a setback at school. Or maybe...

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WHEN THEY GO HOME

 Middle foster child is getting ready to be returned home.It ought to be a red-letter day for foster parents, because the job of fostering is, in a nutshell, helping the child's family come together again, with safety for all ensured.It's always tinged though.When the child is driven away from your home, posessions neatly packed in proper luggage, a few mementoes should be included. This one's...

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