Initial worry No.6 – Putting pressure on myself to be perfect.
Mia Winfield - 2nd January 2026
Starting out as a foster carer can feel a little like stepping onto a stage where the spotlight is always on. New carers often arrive with open hearts, a strong sense of responsibility, and a quiet fear in the background: What if I get it wrong? That fear often turns into a belief that they need to be perfect. Why the Pressure to Be Perfect Feels So Strong New foster carers usually worry about perfection because they care. Many feel the weight of knowing that a child has already experienced loss, trauma, or instability. The idea of adding to that pain can cause concern. There are a few common reasons perfectionism creeps in: Fear of causing further harmWhen a child
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The future of fostering is intuitive….
Lucy Stevens - 29th July 2024
Eastern Fostering Services has just launched a significant service enhancement which really brings fostering into the 21st Century. Partnering with Intuitive Care we have introduced a new back office system which will improve child outcomes, simplify and reduce the time taken on paperwork for Foster Carers, assist in training and development, and allow easy access to information on the go. What is Intuitive Care? Intuitive Care have developed a fantastic app, accessible from any device, which consolidates all the paperwork that so commonly is the bane of Foster Carers’ lives! Many Foster Carers are used to having to work with clumsy, inflexible systems for loading and viewing key paperwork. Intuitive Care uses a simple app to reduce the time and
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My diary of the Eastern Fostering Services Trip to the Isle of White – by L, aged 14.
Lucy Stevens - 29th June 2023
29th May We got picked up in the morning by a minibus from Colchester Stadium. I was so excited! It was really good to see the other children that I know through Eastern Fostering Services. From there we went on to Ingatestone to pick up some other children and staff. Then it was off to Southampton to catch the ferry to the ISLE OF WIGHT! I’d never been on a ferry before and was a bit worried I may get sea sick but guess what? I didn’t, so at least I now know I don’t get sea sick. When we got to the Isle of Wight, we had to walk on a floating bridge. I was so excited. We had
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Fostering Communities: The professional community
Lucy Stevens - 25th May 2023
It often comes as a surprise to prospective foster carers when they first realise the number of professionals that work with children in foster care. Often the first introduction foster carers get to the professional community is during the Preparation to Foster training, which takes place during the assessment process. “It was the first time, I fully appreciated just how many professionals are involved with the children and how important it must be to invest in these relationships,” said one of our recently approved carers. This was an astutely made point. It is indeed important to build good relationships within the professional community, to understand their roles, their objectives and how best to work with them to promote the well
Tags: becoming a foster carer, fostercare fortnight, fostering, Fostering Cambridgeshire, fostering Essex
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Fostering communities: fostering social workers
Eleanor Newman - 24th May 2023
Reflections of an old Social Worker Today, I am reflecting on one of those life events that makes being a Social Worker for nearly 30 years worthwhile. I claim no credit for the achievements of this incredibly special woman, I am just grateful for being part of her journey. I first met ‘Belle” (she is a Disney fan, so we agreed on this as her pseudonym) in the 1990’s as her fostering Social Worker. She was a feisty, mixed-up teen, rightly angry with the world but also clearly possessing a strong and positive spirit. We immediately struck up a great rapport that has now stood the test of time, having just been to her wedding in 2022. As I write
Tags: becoming a foster carer, fostercare fortnight, Fostering Cambridgeshire, fostering Essex, fostering Suffolk
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Musings of a foster carer – Fostering teens
Janet Wright - 30th September 2022
No doubt about it, teenagers get a bad rap. I’m one of those rare, but I know much needed, foster carers who only foster teens. Why? I hear you gasp. I love babies and younger children, but there’s something about teens that I find so rewarding. Sure, it can be hard to keep up to speed with their world: social media, language, trends. Keeping them safe is so much harder than it used to be. BUT Teenagers are interesting. They may not always be interested in interesting things (in my view), but as human beings, they have so much to offer. Undoubtedly, over the last few years, the teens we see come into foster care are more complex. The reasons
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Musings of a foster carer – Food for thought.
Josh Brightmore - 16th September 2022
Food is a big deal in fostering. So big, you’d need a few blogs to do it justice. I’ve seen a lot over the last few years since starting fostering. There are so many ways that childhood adverse experiences can impact food, eating habits and behaviour around food. We once fostered two brothers, who had suffered severe neglect. The first evening they were with us, we sat at the table to eat. I brought out something I thought would be a safe bet, not knowing what their favourite foods were. It became obvious immediately that they had not been taught how to use a knife and fork and had probably never sat at a table to eat. Carnage doesn’t come
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Musings of a foster carer – Holidays
Jean Wilson - 9th September 2022
We all look forward to a holiday! Holiday is a time when you’re happy, the whole family is in a good mood and you are able to relax and get lost in the novelty of a foreign country, its language, its food, its pace of life. The first time we took our foster child away on holiday with us, we assumed that the same rules would apply: everyday life would be left behind and we would all be refreshed by a much needed holiday. And it was refreshing. And it was a happy time. But it was soon apparent that we were not going to be able to leave our metaphorical baggage behind. The challenges of fostering followed us across
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The Road to Panel: “Nobody has the perfect background”
James Roderick - 19th August 2022
When I last met with Angela and Mark they had just begun fostering their second child and they’re expecting to become grandparents (again) any day now. Their first fostering placement lasted many years, but, when we spoke, they took me back to the process of being approved as foster carers over eight years ago. “It took us two years from our first assessment to being approved as foster carers,” Mark explains, “but that was because at that time in our lives we had so much going on that we wanted to take it slow”. They were supported by Eastern Fostering Services in going at a speed that was right for them: “after all, it’s important for the child that the
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Musings of a foster carer – Waiting for the child to arrive
Katie Walton - 12th August 2022
The bed is made, clean, fresh, corners tucked in. The bedroom dusted to within an inch of its life. The fridge is able to cater for a range of tastes. I’ve even managed to make cookies which are in the oven as we speak. For me, nothing says welcome more clearly than the smell of baking. I look at the clock. They are late. Nothing unusual as that. I fidget and find things to do with my restless hands. The clock hand moves so slowly. It always does. But here’s the thing, no matter how many children you have fostered, how many clocks you have watched, it is always unnerving waiting for a new child to arrive. The fostering rollercoaster
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