Skip to main content

Week in the life of a foster carer 25


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 25 kids to date.

Monday -kids!

I still have Kenneth with me but only for one more complete day as tomorrow he is going to a different carer for Christmas as I'm away. His social worker emails me first thing in the morning asking if she can visit as she wants to check in on him. It's totally fine so I say yes.

In the meantime we have a few things to do. When his social worker pops by he's not phased and chats to her for a bit. I chat to her on my own afterwards. She leaves him a booklet to help understand what is going on with his situation.

Rest of the day is all good.

Tuesday - kids!

Kenneth is going to another carer in the afternoon but two things. He's very excited and can't read the time, so even though I've said he's not being collected until 2pm, at 9am he is fully packed and waiting by the door.  I do double check what he's packed to ensure he has what he needs for his mini trip to another carer.

We play games until two but he's quite impatient to leave. When he does I have a couple of hours to work before I leave myself to get a train to my family home for Christmas.

In the evening I get a text to let me know that Kenneth is doing well.



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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Those kids are so lucky to be living with you'

We have heard this numerous times. And each time whilst the person saying it is well meaning I feel like bopping them on the head. Lucky? Really. Lucky that they were sexually abused as a young child, filmed and the abuse put online for thousands of paedophiles to see. Lucky that their parent has become slowly more unwell and has increasingly relied on them to bring up their younger siblings to the point where they have no friends and barely go to school as they're too busy doing all the jobs mum should be doing. Lucky that their parent lost their job through no fault of their own, became depressed and turned to alcohol, becoming abusive and forgetting to do even the basics in their household, neglecting them. No children in care aren't lucky. They've experienced difficult times and been plucked from their life and asked to live with strangers in a house that looks and smells different to the one they call home. They may have to move areas and schools too. S...
Post a Comment
Read more

Brave new world

Where to start? With details about me, about the kids I look after and will look after in the years to come? With the answers to the questions you're undoubtedly thinking? Can I foster? Am I too young or old? Do I have to be in a relationship? Can I be LGBT+ and foster? Do I have to own my own home? Well, first off, understandably I wont be able to share the details of any kids in my care. Privacy is paramount. Instead I will offer tidbits and snapshots and little insights that I hope you find helpful. About the title... well I am based in Bristol, UK, a city which I love, and whose people I adore. But, like every town and city in the UK, there are not enough foster carers. I hope that by reading this blog you may be spurred into picking up that phone and making an inquiry with your local authority, or you fill in that online form, or attend a local drop in meeting. Btw I'm not tied to any agency or authority, this is my own brainwave. The first step, as they say, i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Things I hate about fostering

Some people see fostering as a job, some a calling, some a social necessity or duty, but no matter how you see fostering, there  will be things you hate about it. Don't get me wrong, vast majority of the time fostering is fab. Even when your tired, frustrated and wondering why you are taking your young person to meet their father for contact knowing they'll be upset for a day, fostering is still worth it. There are a whole host of reasons why it is worth it, but that is for another time. There are most certainly things we hate about it. Number one pet peeve is paperwork. It's to be expected in some senses. I mean you are looking after a child who has a corporate parent (the local authority) and with that will come a certain amount of paperwork. You have to be organised. From the get go you need some sort of lockable filing cabinet or container. Something that can be organised with tabs. Because you will get paperwork for each and every child you get. Paperwork rel...
Post a Comment
Read more