Our foster carers
We should all acknowledge and congratulate our foster carers on the quality of care and solid commitment they give to our vulnerable children.
Our foster carers provide the most significant and appropriate safety net and positive family experiences for our UK children and young people who cannot live with their own families.
Currently, and historically there are various initiatives and suggestions by government and independent bodies designed to keep and recruit foster carers based on their knowledge of the day-to-day issues facing foster carers accross the UK and in particular accepting that each fostering family have their own unique issues and support needs.
Fostering providers are beginning to create better and more democratic relationships with their carers because they realise that this enhances each other’s understanding and therefore improves best practices. Simply, ‘Quality foster carers provide quality care’.
Our foster carers encourage community participation which stimulates local interest and consequenly more people to think about a fostering career. By letting carers know that their views will be listened to and acted upon where possible by their providers it encourages better communication and more trust. Many foster carers can suggest some excellent ideas to improve the ways in which the care system can be improved and how partnerships with stakeholders can be better consolidated.
A majority of foster carers believe that having better support from the fostering providers would increase retention of foster carers and possibly entice some who have ceased fostering to reconsider their stance. Foster carers across the UK suggest that improving the level of information they are provided with, the level of openness and their involvement in selection and training of foster carers would enhance their fostering service. Also that the fostering providers should work harder to demonstrate their commitment to, and value of foster carers and the role they fulfill.
Without communication and support from the fostering providers the quality of foster care required to meet the needs of those in foster care can not be achieved.
In summary, if we all know what it will take to ensure a quality foster care workforce who provide a quality service to our children and young people now and in the future, why are the same concerns and issues being raised time and time again without any apparent good enough changes being made by the fostering providers or government to address the issues once and for all?
Sadly, however realistically there has not been, and seems not to be the financial commitment to fund the obvious changes that need to be made which would make a world of difference for our foster carers and the vulnerable children we all ask them to look after.
Mail this post
Tags: foster carers, foster children, fostering