Each year, we celebrate Foster Care Fortnight™. It’s a themed national awareness campaign from The Fostering Network to raise the profile of fostering and show how foster care transforms lives.
From 13 to 26 May, we will be sharing the #FosteringMoments that have mattered to our foster carers, their children and our team who support the carers and our fostered children. View these on our social media channels.
One of our foster carers went on camera last week to encourage other young families with their own children to consider joining our East Sussex fostering family.
Hannah says “We’ve been fostering for five years, our children were three and eight when we started. We used to foster for an independent agency but transferred to East Sussex County Council four years ago.”
Their eldest daughter is now 13 and they asked her if she has a particularly memorable fostering moment? She said, “The first time I came home from school and we had a baby to care for was really memorable for me. I remember thinking how tiny they were and how important our role in fostering is.”
Hannah is proud that her own children are able to welcome other children into their home. They understand that not every family looks the same. She is humbled by the empathy and compassion that fostering has taught them and the way they naturally share their lives with others.
Building Trust
When you know, you know. Sometimes the smallest of gestures, the tiniest of moments or a single look make a breakthrough moment. You’ve done it; you realise that you’ve just gained the trust of a young person who may not have been able to trust an adult before.
“We were at the park and they called me over to help them off the slide because they were too worried to go down… in that moment I knew that a connection had been made” says Hannah.
Information Overload
One thing our new foster carers tell us about is how tricky it was to get started. We appreciate that researching about fostering can get confusing. There is a lot of information out there, and many people don’t understand how the ‘care system’ really works between local authorities and independent agencies.
Why not begin by joining one of our informal online fostering information events. They last about an hour, and we run them lunchtimes and evenings. It’s free to sign up and you can ask any questions you have about training, different types of fostering, full-time and part-time opportunities, our 24/7 support, and of course about the allowances you’ll receive. We appreciate most people don’t foster for the money, but you may not be able to foster without it.
#FosteringMoments from our foster carers
“Foster carers are amazing, with a unique vocation and dedication to the support of young people. Young people come to you in probably one of the greatest crises in their lives. You give them strategies to take forward [into adulthood] into their own relationships and into their parenting. I am a foster care professional; I support foster carers and it’s a privilege to do so.” Adrian Sewell, Operations Manager.
Adrian explains that when a child comes into care, we try to keep other parts of their life familiar for them. It’s important they carry on attending school with their friends and to maintain contact, when appropriate, with their families and extended family members. In the future, we hope they might be reunited.
We need more East Sussex foster carers for East Sussex children to keep them local. Please get in touch with the fostering team by visiting the website or call 01323 464129 and keep up-to-date with news and events:
Follow East Sussex County Council Fostering Service on Facebook or follow on Instagram.
