We reported last time that the Children and Social Work Bill had been introduced to parliament which we have been working on during July as well as scrutinising other reports from the Government.

I’m misleading you a little this week because I’m not going to be blogging about the cinema. Though what I’m attempting to describe was at times as surreal to me as something you might glimpse on the big screen. This week’s blog is about the Home Office screening interview that all children seeking asylum in the UK need to attend.

Andrew Walker, a member of The Fostering Network’s practice support team and a social worker, reflects on a summer of consultations and reports in England.

So much for work slowing down during the summer. The Westminster Government and related agencies issued a flurry of documents for consideration in June and July which have kept the Practice Support Team busy in between going away for their summer holiday.

Allegations against a foster carer by a child in their care is a subject most carers would rather not think about, believing it couldn’t happen to us. Sadly it happens to many of us and the majority of those who have allegations made against them are not new carers but experienced ones, just like a friend of mine and her husband who’d been fostering for 10 years.

We’ve all seen it on the news. We’ve watched the exodus of men, women and children with a mounting sense of horror and helplessness. We know that there are thousands upon thousands of children displaced from their homes and everything they’ve ever known. We know many of these children are on their own, traumatised, bewildered and afraid.

Aside from fretting over the home nations' performances in the Euros, there's been a lot else going on in our campaigns team over the past few weeks.

Ben Weighill, 25, is an amateur singer/songwriter from Chesterfield who is the voice behind the soundtrack to the new Dreams advert – a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time.

​Dreams, the UKs leading bed specialist, has teamed up with The Fostering Network to raise money and awareness for foster care around the UK. As part of this partnership Dreams is donating its proceeds from sales of Ben’s single.

Buy it today from Amazon, Google Play or iTunes and support the work of The Fostering Network.

I was recently asked by a social worker if I’d have a chat with a relatively new foster carer about the behaviour of the 12-year-old she was fostering. Her main complaint was that the girl had a bad ‘attitude’ and swore. On the scale of things this behaviour didn’t seem too bad to me so I had to think carefully what to say.