SPONSORED EDITORIAL

Have you ever looked back on a moment in your life and seen that your future changed for the better at that time?

Perhaps it was a teacher telling you that you were good at something that is now your career?

Or a relationship which led you to move to a better location? Or a trip overseas which gave you a different outlook on life?

Fostering could be that moment for you - and it has the potential to also be positively life changing for fostered children, young people and their birth families.

Every 20 minutes another child comes into care needing a foster family in the UK. Every day there are about 65,000 children living with 55,000 foster families.

Fostering offers children and young people a home when they are unable to live with their birth family. It can also offer a struggling parent a loving home where they can develop their parenting skills.

CLICK HERE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BECOMING A FOSTER CARER IN KENT

Sometimes children only stay with a foster family for a few days, while others will live with their foster family for their entire childhood and beyond.

Many of these children have experienced abuse or neglect prior to coming into care and fostering is often their first positive experience of family life.

Despite the trauma experienced by children coming into care and their difficult start to life, good foster care can help to transform their lives and enable them to flourish.

Fostering offers children a safe and caring home and plays a big part in supporting them to maintain links with their birth family.

There is a need for more foster carers to improve the lives of children, parents and young people every year in Kent.

We want to recruit a wide and diverse range of people as carers and welcome applications from anyone regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender identification, religion or sexual orientation.

You can be single or in a relationship, own or rent your own home, have your own children or be child-free. All we ask is that you are enthusiastic, energetic, patient and have the time to commit to the care, are in a secure and stable home and have a spare bedroom.

Working as part of a team of professionals you will receive training to develop the skills required to meet the needs of the individuals in your care and offer them love, warmth and stability.

If you are interested in fostering, there are many different types to choose from, all of which come with their own challenges and rewards.

Kent currently needs more foster carers for parent and child placements and hub family foster care.

Parent and child foster care involves placing a parent, who is experiencing difficulties, and their baby or young child in your home where you would provide help and encouragement to the parent to develop their skills and occasionally provide parental care.

Sue Hope has been a foster carer in Kent for around 14 years. Her journey started as a respite carer initially providing short term care which gave her lots of experience with different children, behaviours and backgrounds.

Following this, after spending some time in full time fostering she decided to become a parent and child carer.

“I have the parents and child in placement together and provide support and advice on parenting skills, helping them to care safely for their child,” said Sue.

“These placements usually last around four months and are a rollercoaster of emotions, but I like that.

“Kent County Council have supported my change of directions from being a respite carer to full-time carer and more recently being a parent and child carer. Last summer I even had a mum, dad and baby in placement.

“KCC understand the different qualities in their carers and my social worker is lovely and supportive.

“Other foster carers have become my friends and family as we understand each other’s difficulties, strengths and celebrations.”

Hub family foster care is an interesting and new type of fostering which provides a grandparenting style role.

CLICK HERE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BECOMING A FOSTER CARER IN KENT

The scheme is designed for those already experienced in foster care, where one hub foster carer family is linked with up to three children living with foster carers in their community providing extra support as a key part of the child and foster families’ network to improve the stability of children’s foster homes.

The Kent County Council hub family foster care scheme was successfully piloted and is now being fully implemented.

Following the pilot, the Independent Reviewing Officer said, “The respite carer was a godsend for the foster carer as I think her input, support and daycare saved the placement.

“What worked very well was the flexibility of the respite provided and that the respite carer had good insight into the young person’s perspective of respite.

“The backup was reliable, and the respite carer was creative and flexible, and provided the best support. Daycare was particularly useful, as respite did not have to be overnight which provided a sense of normality.

“The respite carer was the same person who therefore offered consistency; the relationships built up swiftly and offered similar support as an extended family member.”

As well as parent and child foster care and hub family foster care, you can also support and positively change lives through these other types of foster care:

Emergency

As an emergency foster carer, you need to be prepared to take a child into your home at short notice, at any time of the day or night. Children usually need to stay for only a few days, while longer-term plans are being considered.

Short-term

This can mean anything from overnight stays to a period of several months. As a short-term foster carer, you would provide a temporary place to stay until the child can return home to their own family or a longer-term fostering or adoption arrangement can be made.

Permanent

Permanent fostering allows children to stay with your family where they can feel secure, while maintaining contact with their birth family. There is currently a particular need for this type of foster care for teenagers and sibling groups in Kent.

Short-break

This covers a variety of part-time care, including offering a break to the family of a child with disabilities or for another foster family.

A child could come and stay for anything from a few hours each week to a couple of weekends each month.

If you would like to find out more about helping to change people’s lives by becoming a foster carer, then click here or contact the Foster Care Team on 03000 420002.

You can also speak to foster carers and fostering social workers at one of our Foster Care Information Events, details of these can be found on the website.

If you think you could provide support, love and care through fostering in the future, please contact us today.