Children who foster activity day and attachment training
Supporting and thanking the sons and daughters of foster carers is a key aspect of the work of any fostering service and The Fostering Network. Recently, one of The Fostering Network's members, Swiis Foster Care Scotland, ran a 'children who foster' activity day and attachment training which they describe In this blog. We are always keen to hear from other members about how they support and thank their children who foster. Email us with your stories.
Supporting all members of the fostering household is extremely important in ensuring positive outcomes. To this end a number of Swiis Foster Care children and young adults who foster groups regularly meet across Scotland. As well as providing an opportunity to get together, bond and share their fostering experiences with other young people, the groups also allow the attendees to have their say and be involved and included in how our service evolves. This can include anything from suggesting topics for activities, to taking part in staff interviews and developing accessible information for the children of would be foster carers. Staff are always on hand to help out and offer support and guidance when needed and to ensure that fun is also had!
Our Glasgow group would like to share with you their recent activity day and attachment training, which was particularly well received.
The day started with an hour of instructions and climbing on indoor walls at Glasgow Climbing Academy. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and all were up for challenging and pushing themselves! The objective of this first activity was to introduce the group and for them to start the day off on a fun note whilst having the opportunity to bond and to form a group. This seemed to work well and by the end of the climbing activity, those who didn’t know one another were chatting happily to each other.
We all really loved the climbing - it was brilliant!
The next part of the day was an attachment workshop which was called Building Brains and Sticking to People and was specifically designed with our young people in mind. The young people learned about what is meant by attachment in relation to children and young people and how their own attachment experiences may differ from the fostered children and young people who come to live with them. They learned about some of the ways attachment and other messages are formed in our brains and this helped them to understand why some of the children they’ve been fostering might behave a little differently sometimes.There were lots of fun activities (including making a collage) to support their attachment learning.
It was a very informative day which was simple enough for us all to understand and was made fun with the use of practical techniques.
The training was really useful…it helped me understand my wee brothers more.
The day was rounded off with an hour of bouncing and somersaulting on the trampolines at an indoor trampoline park in Glasgow. The feedback from our young people was that they had a really great day!
It was good because it put a different perspective on the knowledge I already had and was done in an environment that was fun so it allowed me to learn more.
