Lucy Stevens - 6th March 2023
We know at the moment that many Local Authorities are reducing their intake of adopters. But is fostering a potential alternative to those who may have their hearts set on adoption?
What are the benefits of fostering with Eastern Fostering Services?
Ongoing support
One of the biggest advantages to fostering is the ongoing support that you will receive. When you foster a child through Eastern Fostering Services, you will receive regular supervision with your Supervising Social Worker. This is an opportunity to discuss any challenges and share ideas for how to tackle them. Your supervising social worker is also there to advocate for you and your child. This can be in relation to education, health and emotional needs and unlocking the potential in your child. At Eastern Fostering Services, support is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We are a small team who takes the time to get to know you, your family and understand your unique needs and circumstances.
A community of foster carers
At Eastern Fostering Services, we recognise that foster carers reap huge benefits from being part of a community. Our community of foster carers is diverse and shares a wealth of experience. There is always someone to chat to and share ideas with. Our carers meet for support groups, training and other events and we work hard to nurture our community.
In the same way, we have a wonderful community of children who have built relationships and who greatly enjoy our Eastern Fostering Services family days out! We have forums and support networks for our children too to ensure that we are sharing the load when it comes to supporting and nurturing our children and young people.
Training and development
We offer a varied, high quality training programme for all our foster carers. We work with individual carers to understand and respond to their specific needs in relation to the child(ren) they are caring for. This ensures foster carers feel well-equipped, confident and happy in their role and it ensures that children are getting the best quality care.
We share latest research on key relevant topics such as brain development, therapeutic fostering and the impact of trauma and loss on children and young people. We work with some skilled and knowledgeable professionals to ensure our carers have access to the latest thinking and techniques for caring for children.
Establishing long-term relationships with children
Many people think that fostering is all about looking after children for short periods of time and often foster carers are referred to in terms of how many children they have cared for.
At Eastern Fostering Services, we promote and nurture long-term relationships and stable home lives for our carers and children. Many carers see their fostered children as a part of their family and continue to offer support up to and beyond the age of 18. Fostering doesn’t have to mean transitory relationships and can offer valuable outcomes for children when they continue to have access to a consistent source of support and nurture.
Fostering and adoption don’t have to be mutually exclusive
We have foster carers who have also adopted children before or during their time as foster carers. There is no reason why you can’t foster if you have already adopted or vice versa. The skills and qualities needed for both fostering and adoption are fully transferrable and highly desirable.
If you’d like to know more about fostering, there is a good deal of information on our website. Or you can contact us at team@easternfosteringservices.com or via our facebook page.
