Lucy Stevens - 17th May 2023
Today we’ll be celebrating the fostering communities which exist within fostering providers. We at Eastern Fostering Services are a small team but we have a wonderful community of carers who support, encourage and motivate one another.
Why is our fostering community so important?
Foster carers know that being part of a wider group of carers is important for many reasons. A warm and supportive community of foster carers provides other foster carers with:
- A source of encouragement, particularly when times are tough. Foster carers have seen it all! When carers encounter difficulties or challenges with the children they are fostering, it is so important that they can seek the support and counsel of someone who knows exactly how they feel.
- Resilience. Communities of foster carers are themselves a means of building individual resilience. Having a group of people you can share knowledge with and learn from can help carers develop their own resilience toolkit.
- Perspective. Every foster carer has their own approach. Quite often when you’re in the thick of challenging circumstances, it can be difficult to view things objectively. Having a community of foster carers who can each offer their own perspective and approaches can really help you to see the wood and not just the trees!
- Confidence. Don’t forget you are also part of the fostering community. You will be able to offer support to other foster carers too. It is often only in conversations with other foster carers that you realise how much you have learned, the skills you have developed and the perspective you have gained. Knowing what you know does wonders for your confidence. Confidence itself makes you a more effective foster carer.
- Fun! The carers we are lucky enough to have at Eastern Fostering Services are warm, friendly and have a great sense of humour (often cited as the most important quality needed for fostering.) It is simply good fun to get together and socialise. The importance of fun is often underestimated as an important part of building resilience and robust mental health.
What do our foster carers say about the Eastern Fostering Services Fostering Community?
“Being part of the Eastern Fostering Services Fostering community is like being in a family!”
“It’s like stepping into a warm bath.”
“We’ve also benefited from a great network with other carers in Essex, which Eastern Fostering Services is instrumental in supporting.”
“Our social worker has been developing a Cambridgeshire group of carers and we meet regularly and feel like we’ve known each other for ever, (which we really haven’t). The other carers are a great support and we regularly message each other when we need help or to encourage each other.”
“We have had so much support from Eastern Fostering Services but also from our fellow carers in Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire. We love the days out and getting together for training or beach days and the Christmas lunch!”
If you’d like to know more about our fostering community, please get in touch.
You can message us on Facebook, email us at team@easternfosteringservices.com contact us via our website or call us on 01206 299775.
Eastern Fostering Services - The small agency with a strong family feel
Tags: applying to be a foster carer, becoming a foster carer, Fostering Cambridgeshire, fostering Essex, fostering Suffolk
