Blogs
In February LGBT+ History Month is celebrated in the UK. We are joining in by highlighting the vital contribution the LGBTQ+ community makes to foster care and what more can be done to ensure that both LGBTQ+ foster carers and young people have the best possible experience of care.
For the first blog of this series, we spoke to four LGBTQ+ foster carers about their role, caring for LGBTQ+ children and what foster carers can do to ensure that every child feels supported on their journey.
Earlier this week, Dr Nikki Luke, a research fellow at the Rees Centre, University of Oxford, and two care experienced colleagues, Charmaine and Jade, published Education and Care: A resource for young people. This blog follows a conversation she and Daisy Elliott, policy and research officer at The Fostering Network, had about the resource and wider research project.
Schools in Scotland have now reopened and the next month should see term begin across Northern Ireland, England and Wales. While school opening arrangements will vary across the four nations, this blog offers foster carers suggestions on how to smooth the process for children and young people.
With A level results being received in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, Dr Jonathan Kirkup from Cardiff University gives his advice for students about the process of going through clearing
Veronica has been a foster carer for almost 12 years. Together with her husband, she currently cares for two young women, one of which is an asylum seeking teenager who arrived in the UK all by herself when she was 16. In this blog Veronica tells us what this is like and why the two women are such a good match.
All names in this blog have been changed for anonymity.
Sunflower was only 16 when she came to the UK after being forced to leave her family, her home country and everything she knew. When she arrived, she was alone and didn’t speak any English. A year later she has learnt the language, settled in and started dreaming about the future. A testimony of young people’s resilience and the importance of foster care.
All names in this blog have been changed for anonymity.
When the UK entered lockdown as result of the coronavirus, almost all family time (contact) arrangements moved from being face-to-face to virtual. As lockdown begins to ease, albeit at different paces in the countries of the UK, new challenges are arising as face-to-face contact resumes. The Fostering Network has produced some checklists for foster carers and social workers to support services and carers through this process.
In order to capture learning from the virtual contact that has been taking place and to discuss what needs to be considered as face-to-face contact recommences, The Fostering Network has held a series of webinars open to foster carers, social workers and other professionals.
FASD (Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) affects children in care disproportionately, but it's little understood.
Sue and Tony Sharp are long-term foster carers looking after twin 10-year-old boys with a diagnosis of FASD along with a number of other diagnoses - and all this on top of the trauma the boys experienced in their early years.
This is the last in a series of four blogs about FASD and trauma, based on a briefing that Sue and Tony developed in association with The National Organisation for FASD and the East Hertfordshire and Area FASD Support Network.
Read the other blogs:
- An interview with Sue and Tony
- Understanding FASD
- FASD and trauma (part 1)
- You can read more about FASD on our web page.
FASD (Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) affects children in care disproportionately, but it's little understood.
Sue and Tony Sharp are long-term foster carers looking after twin 10-year-old boys with a diagnosis of FASD along with a number of other diagnoses - and all this on top of the trauma the boys experienced in their early years.
This is the third in a series of four blogs about FASD and trauma, based on a briefing that Sue and Tony developed in association with The National Organisation for FASD and the East Hertfordshire and Area FASD Support Network.
Read the other blogs:
- An interview with Sue and Tony
- Understanding FASD
- FASD and trauma (part 2) - top tips
- You can read more about FASD on our web page.
