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Fostering support worries


One of the worries I’ve heard people discuss when thinking of fostering is whether they will be supported.


In essence, what support will they get if they, as the carer, are having a difficult time.

We all have trying times. Whether with our own kids, the grankids, at work, or with our pesky neighbor whose dog barks early in the morning.

But in most situations there is someone you can have a whinge and a moan to, or let loose with.

But fostering is different. Due to issues of confidentiality you cannot go telling every Tom, Dick and Harry that young George is being a pain in the you know what this week because he saw his Dad at contact and is now confused.

So, how do you get support as a carer?

The main two areas of support come from social services and other carers.

Every carer has their own social worker who are the first port of call.. however you may not want to email in or ring up for things that seem ‘trivial’ but are still an issue.

For me social workers are for more practical issues, like advice on how to register the child at your GPs, not for moaning that George keeps pulling the cat’s tail.

This is where another side of social services can help. There are organised support groups where in complete confidentiality you can discuss issues with other carers.  These are great for letting off steam.

However what if you need practical support too?

Well social services offer this too. They have 24hr of support on the phone. During 9-5 you can ring your social worker or the duty social worker. In the evening you can ring Out of Hours for help and advice and from midnight til nine you can ring the Emergency Duty Team. Basically there is always someone a phone call away for help.

However for all of this I feel the best support for foster carers is one’s own family and close friends and other carers.

Family and friends, whilst you can relay details, can still help out. Maybe babysitting or driving your child to youth club. Or helping with the weekly shop when you’ve got your hands full.

Other foster carers provide brilliant support though and are often on ‘standby’ to help each other out, particularly when you are looking after ‘difficult’ children. There is no better support than from a carer who knows what it is like to love a child but have them want to go home to the mum and dad who hit them, or knows how it feels when you child gets reunified and your heartaches.

Support networks after correctly a concern of potential carers, but you know, the more carers that live in a neighbourhood, the more support you can give each other, then the more help carers have, and the easier caring can be.

It’s never going to be a easey-peasey role, but if we have each other’s backs, then we can help each other help the children we look after.

So, I guess what I’m saying is don’t worry about support. There is plenty of it and when you become a carer you’ll be helped out by professionals and fellow carers and you yourself will become a carer that can help out others too.

You’ll join the supportive family that exists around foster care so we can look out for each other to do one of the best roles you can imagine: providing a safe, secure, loving home for Bristol’s most vulnerable kids.

All the best, Bristol Fostering.


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NB Bristol Fostering is a personal blog and not affiliated with any fostering agency. The author just happens to be a foster carer in Bristol, UK

We do recommend Bristol Council though as they're fab. Bristol Council fostering enquiry form

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