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?

An important part of fostering is helping children maintain connections with their birth family. Often referred to as “family time” or “contact,” these visits are a vital part of a child’s care plan. But for foster carers, supporting family time can feel challenging, even worrying.

One of the most common concerns people share when they’re thinking about fostering is this:
“Will our home feel like a goldfish bowl, with professionals coming and going all the time?”

Starting a fostering journey is exciting, life-changing… and often a little scary.

One of the most common fears people share with us is:

“What if I’m not confident enough?”
“What if it’s too difficult and I can’t cope?”

When you decide to foster through Eastern Fostering Services, there’s a wonderful mix of excitement, nervousness and big questions.
One concern that often comes up, and one of the worries our current foster carers shared from when they first started is:

Becoming a foster carer is a big and often emotional step. It takes courage, compassion, and a deep commitment to helping children who need a safe and nurturing home. Yet for many new carers, one common worry can quietly creep in — the fear of being judged by their social worker.

October has been a wonderfully busy and heart-warming month for our fostering family — filled with achievements, new faces, celebrations, and a fair bit of spooky fun! Here’s a look back at what we’ve been up to.

When you decide to foster, your whole family becomes part of the journey — not just you as parents. Your children play a vital role in welcoming, supporting, and sharing their home with another child who may have experienced trauma or instability.

For many families, fostering is an incredibly rewarding experience, but it also brings changes that can be deeply felt by everyone, including your own children. Understanding what it’s like to be a foster sibling can help you prepare, support your family, and make the fostering experience as positive as possible for everyone involved.

What a summer it’s been! A big thank you to everyone who joined us for our adventures — from camp on Mersea Island, to beach day fun, to our forest BBQ in Thetford. We couldn’t have asked for better company or better weather!

But with September comes a return to school runs, packed lunches and the familiar buzz of routine. We’re so proud of all our children for settling back in so brilliantly — a huge well done to you all, but a special mention to T, who has received SEVEN positive referrals for academic achievement in lessons.

As a foster carer, you’re often called upon to provide safety, stability, and unconditional support to children and young people who have experienced trauma and adversity. Some of the children you care for may have lived through situations that lead to coping mechanisms such as self-harm. Understanding how to manage self-harm as a foster carer is essential to providing the emotional care and healing that these children need.

As the summer holidays come to a close, we’re looking back on what has been a truly fantastic August here at EFS. With sunshine, seaside trips, sweet treats, and plenty of shared laughter, we’ve packed the month full of connection, creativity, and community.

Fostering a child is one of the most rewarding and impactful roles a person can take on. It requires an immense amount of love, patience, and dedication, but the reward is immeasurable – offering a vulnerable child a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment to grow in. However, it’s not a decision to be taken lightly. Becoming a foster carer requires specific qualities and attributes that will ensure the well-being of the child placed in your care.

Fostering children is a beautiful and transformative experience, one that involves giving children in need a safe, loving, and supportive environment. But when you have a young family of your own, the journey of fostering can feel like a unique and daunting challenge. From balancing the needs of your own children to understanding how fostering can change your family dynamic, it’s important to recognize that while fostering with a young family can be challenging, it is also one of the most rewarding things you can do.

I’m TJ. I was 7 years old when my family and I started fostering. It’s mad to think that that was over 7 years ago. A lot has happened in that time!

A high proportion of children who are looked after by foster carers have witnessed some degree of domestic abuse. Exposure to domestic violence is one of the main factors leading to social care involvement in the lives of children and we have seen incidences of domestic abuse increase over the last year during the Covid pandemic.

October marks Global Diversity Awareness Month, a time to celebrate the rich tapestry of cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds that make our communities vibrant. It’s also a reminder of the importance of diversity in foster care. With thousands of children entering the system each year, it’s crucial that our pool of foster carers reflects the wide range of experiences and identities of the children who need support.

We believe fostering has a huge role to play in society. Foster carers look after some of our most vulnerable children. It is massively rewarding but requires grit, determination, and commitment.

Having good support from your fostering provider is essential in ensuring a successful and enjoyable fostering experience, not just for carers but for the children and young people too. If you’re starting out on your fostering journey, here are some things you’ll need to think about when deciding which fostering provider to go for.

This week, we hear from Tricia who is a long-standing member of our Fostering Panel. She brings to panel a wealth of experience working with children and foster carers. Her personality and sensitive approach help all fostering applicants feel relaxed and comfortable when they appear at the Eastern Fostering Services Panel.

We asked Tricia to give us some insight into how panel works and what people can expect when they appear at fostering panel.

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.

What is Pride all about? Pride Month can trace its history back to New York and the 1960s, specifically the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. Police prejudice, discrimination and harassment at the time sparked a series of protests which lay the foundations for the LGBTQ+ Rights movement. The first Pride marches took place the following year to commemorate the Stonewall anniversary. Today, Pride Month has grown to become a vast platform on which we celebrate diversity, challenge discrimination and campaign for inclusivity in wider society. Take a Pride in Fostering At Eastern Fostering Services, we know only too well that many young people still come up against challenges in the face of their sexuality or gender identity.