Hello!
For those of you unfamiliar, I offer shared foster care and cover emergencies.
Shared care is where you give either another foster carer or a child's family a break by having their child for usually 1-7 nights, quite often just one or two nights.
Emergency care are where Social Services phone you and ask you to take a child that night for at least one night. I've done this over a dozen times and least notice I've had is 15mins and most 7hrs. Some of these kids have stayed just one night; longest was 21 nights.
I've looked after 23 kids to date.
Monday - no kids
Still no kids. No kids. And no kids. Eight days of no kids. I don't know what to do with myself. Well, except I do. Some work from home. I get rather a lot done with no kids. Still, I'd prefer some kids.
Tuesday - no kids
Again no kids today but I'm okay with that because I have two meetings today. One about and for me with my new social worker and their manager. I have to travel to social services' office for this, which is a bit of a trip by bus. Like 90mins worth of buses. Meeting was very useful however; refreshing actually. I need a support plan creating to help me with my mental health and we book in a date to flesh that out.
Afterwards I need to get the bus back into town and then another north of the city but I have a bit of time to kill in the middle so i go second hand video game shopping. I'm meeting a kinship carer and their child as they've requested a break for a weekend but I said I wanted to meet the child first. I go to their home and have a chat about food, medication, bedtime, behaviours, pets, things they like to do, and more.
Also I partly visit so I can work out the bus route as I don't drive and nor does the child's relative. Buses seem okay enough so when I get home I email my social worker to say its a yes, though I do flag a couple minor concerns and seek a bit more information.
Wednesday - no kids
Again no kids. It's starting to feel 'empty'. That's quite a horrid term really. It just means I have no kids staying with me. I email Placement team to remind them I am free! But no, nothing.
In the morning I am volunteering at an exhibition on the lives of children in care in Bristol over the year. Not many visitors come but I do have a few really good conversations with those that do pop in.
Rest of the day... well I get on with working from home.
Thursday - kids!
I pop round to Lilo and Stitch's carer's home to get their weekend bag as I know I wont have time on Friday, and unfortunately find her to be rather unwell, so I suggest rather than me having them for the weekend, I have for a longer 4.5 days spell. She rings her social worker and I ring mine and it's all agreed. But this leaves me twenty minutes to go pick the little ones up from school and its a five minute walk from mine. I get a lift back with their belongings, have a quick tidy and go collect them.
They're happy to see me and it's not a surprise as their teachers have told them I'm coming. We play Lego all evening and I text their carer back and forth to see how she's feeling. Ill.
One issue. As they're a day early I don't have much food in so we have to go Tesco before we can have tea. I don't even have milk for breakfast or anything lunchbox suitable.
The kid's Aunty rings in the evening to see how they are getting on. This was a scheduled phonecall and still needs to be made even though the kids are staying with me. I give permission for Aunty to have my phone no.
I have training tomorrow but I now know I will be late because I need to take the little ones to school. I contact the trainer and let them know I'll be 30-60mins late with my apologies.
Friday - kids!
Lilo and Stitch slept really well. In fact I got up before them. Getting off to school was no issue which was lovely compared to last time I looked after them on a school day.
As soon as they got into school I had to hop on a bus, well two, to get to some foster care training I'm doing. It's a six week long course and its hard work but really valuable.
When I get in I have two hours before they're due to be picked up as both have afterschool clubs.
Saturday - kids!
Today is Lilo's turn to choose what we do and as he loves both parks and buses we go to a large park in the south of the city so that firstly we can use a different bus route, and secondly, so we can explore the park. And what a park! It has a large sand pit area, massive climbing frame, and lots of smoking teens huddled on benches.
Was really good actually. The park took us 1h20 by bus, that's how far away it was, but it was lovely. After the park we head back to the city centre for Subway and had a look around the second hand video game shop though we didn't find anything we fancied.
In the evening we playing Lego Harry Potter on the Xbox which goes down well.
Sunday - kids!
Lilo and Stitch are staying with me overnight tonight which is unusal as they normally go back to their carers after tea on a Sunday.
Today is the annual foster care kids Christmas party which we merrily go along to. I haven't told Lilo its only for foster kids though as he is embarassed to be in foster care. I just tell him its a Christmas party. One plus is we get to get a new bus which he thoroughly enjoys. It's rather a long trip out to the venue by bus, but that's part of the fun for Lilo.
The party is difficult at times but also overall very positive in terms of Lilo dealing with crowds and his emotions and behaviours around loud noises.
After we saw Santa we headed home and got drenched! In the afternoon I was asked to extend their stay with me too. I said yes.
In the evening before bed we played Lego Harry Potter on the Xbox. A good day all round.
All the best, BF
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 inquiry form
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