Why do we do what we do?
In one hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.
Forest E Witcraft
We have chosen this quote as our mission statement because we felt that it summed
up what Eastern Fostering Services is trying to achieve across the range of its
services. It underlines the philosophy that we keenly adhere to, of the paramount
importance of “good adults” being able to influence better futures for children,
particularly children who have lived in difficult circumstances.
Our Aims and Objectives
Our aim is to provide high quality services to children and families that are individualised, professional, warm and empathic and valued by the people who use them.
Within that, our objectives with specific regard to our fostering service are:
- To establish a diverse range of local fostering families who can enable children to stay in touch with the people and places that are important to them and meet children’s individual needs.
- To work positively and collaboratively with all professional networks involved in children’s care planning.
- To develop a staff team that is sensitive, professional and positive.
- To recruit carers who will provide a safe and nurturing environment for the children they care for.
- To strive to always work from a trauma-informed perspective, seeking to understand the impact of lived experiences on children, and the adults who care for them.
- To provide an environment for children that promotes their health and educational needs and gives them the best life chances possible.
- To value and support foster carers to enable them to provide comprehensive care and to look after their own emotional well-being.
- To work to the requirements of the National Fostering Minimum Standards and Fostering Services Regulations 2011 and in accordance with all other relevant statute, guidance and regulation.
- To continually focus on our ability to recruit sufficient carers to offer as many family matches as possible for the numbers of children needing a fostering family.
- Through effective matching and support minimise the number of moves experienced by individual children.
- To build a non-hierarchical structure which allows us to deliver a swift quality response to service requests.
- To develop a working environment that addresses the learning and developmental needs of all those connected with it.
Running through all of our working practices is the aim to appreciate difference, challenge discrimination and set the scene for an equality-based service.
Services we provide
Short Term Fostering
Short term fostering can range from looking after children for a few days, a few weeks or up to many months and even over a year! Often short-term fostering is required when children are first fostered and is designed to give a period of time where court proceedings take place to assess and agree what will be best for children in the longer term. Court proceedings typically last around 6 months but they can be longer if there are many different family members to assess and it is not unusual for delays to occur for a variety of reasons. Other short-term fostering might include helping to support and prepare children ahead of moving to adoptive families. Some families prefer to offer short-term fostering (sometimes called ‘respite’ but we don’t like that term!) to support other fostering families if they need a break, and this could consist of a few weekends or provision of stays up to a fortnight.
Almost all of these arrangements will involve working with children’s families and helping them to keep in contact with the people who are important to them.
Long Term/ Permanent Fostering
When children cannot return home and when adoption is not the right option, we can support families who want to make a long-term commitment to children until adulthood and beyond. We continue to provide high levels of support as children grow up, recognising that each ‘age and stage’ can give rise to different challenges for them and their families.
Parent and Child Placements
We can offer both supportive and assessment-based placements for young parents and their children, which provide a real opportunity for positive parental role- modelling to take effect in a family setting.
Fostering Refugee Children
Eastern Fostering Services has developed considerable insight into the needs of children who have come without their families into the UK as a result of war or conflict in their home countries. We have established a group of experienced foster carers who can support others and share their knowledge, not only of children’s different cultural and religious needs, but also of the legal processes that are involved.
“Staying Put” Fostering
We recognise that some young people need the continuing support of a family environment beyond the point where they reach legal adulthood and we will work with placing authorities to provide this continuum of care within our fostering families.
Welcome to Eastern Fostering Services!
