Breaking the chain
Jacqueline Heaney - Senior Supervising Social Worker at Integrated Fostering Service.
In her first blog Jacqueline talks about how she became a supervising social worker including her time in care and job as a DJ.
England fostering inquiry - an update from our policy team
Welcome to the latest blog from the policy team at The Fostering Network.
Last year we were instrumental in persuading the Education Committee in England to implement a fostering inquiry. We prepared our own detailed responses to feed into the inquiry, our chief executive and director of operations gave oral evidence, and we facilitated foster carers to respond as individuals as well. In this way we are confident that the committee got a good picture of the current fostering landscape in England.
After all the evidence from many organisations and individuals had been digested, the committee published their report into the inquiry just before Christmas.
Fostered to football
The Fostering Network catches up with Ricky Weir, former Players Footballer of the Year in the Jersey Premier League and current founder and chairman of the Jersey2Africa4Football initiative.
We follow Ricky's journey from foster child to working with English Premier League footballer Victor Wanyama (pictured below), as he gives some encouraging advice for prospective carers as well as children going into or currently in care.
Shades of grey
Foster carers inhabit a strange world. It is one where black and white don’t exist in isolation but bleed into one another.
A new partnership
We are delighted to announce a new partnership with The Mortgage Brain, who are taking over from Endsleigh to provide specialist mortgage advice to our foster carer members and a discounted arrangement fee for a completed mortgage. Advisers at The Mortgage Brain have helped many foster carers secure mortgages over the past five years and they are looking forward to helping our members find the right mortgage for them.
Call on new Children's Minister to prioritise fostering stocktake
We welcome Nadhim Zahawi to his new role as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education. We note with some concern that this is an unpaid position, and truly hope this is not a reflection of the priority placed on the role by this Government. Indeed, it is vital that his appointment marks the start of an increased profile for children's social care as well as a new period of stability within the Department for Education, especially given the importance of 2018 for fostering. We will be seeking a meeting with Mr Zahawi at the earliest opportunity.
Learning together
Kirk Hawksworth is a senior supervising social worker for TACT (The Adolescent and Children’s Trust) and has been delivering Fostering Changes training in recent years as part of the Confidence in Care Consortium. He is the lead facilitator for the trust under this initiative and also has an active caseload of foster carers.
'Step Up Step Down': improving life in the household
There are times in life when all of us need a bit of support. Step Up Step Down is an innovative pilot programme of support care, funded by the Big Lottery’s Reaching Out, Supporting Families initiative, which The Fostering Network delivers in partnership with the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland.
In this blog, Jade Irwin - programme officer for Step Up Step Down (pictured below with other staff and volunteers) - tells us more about the impact of the programme.
The best days of my life
Leah shares her story of foster care, being separated from siblings and how her foster carers have supported her.
Fostering at Christmas - stories from our members
For many, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, with countless celebrations, decorations, good food and, of course, presents! It is easy to forget that for some fostered children Christmas is an unknown entity and often an overwhelming experience; for many others it will be a confusing time, missing their birth family or having tricky times of and for others it’s a wondrous time where they truly feel part of a family.
