Having blogged for many years about fostering and raising children I have more recently looked at ways in which adults and young people can achieve happiness and contentment. Last time we looked at different types of anger and being able to let go of it. In this blog I would like to go more deeply into how we can turn the corner and move on with life after a negative experience.

Foster carers’ children are a vital part of many fostering families. We spoke to the winners of our 2017 Outstanding Contribution by Sons and Daughters Award to find out why they love being a part of their fostering family and what it was like winning a national award.

I’ve often thought that, for our foster son, coming to live with us must have been like being plucked from his bed and finding himself firmly ensconced on the moon. This is not because we are particularly strange per se but because of all the foreignness we came wrapped in.

A blog from our chief executive, Kevin Williams.

It’s Children’s Mental Health Week. I know that holding special weeks to shine a spotlight on a particular issue is really important – indeed, at The Fostering Network we organise and deliver Foster Care Fortnight! – but I hope we all agree that the mental health of children is such a vital issue we must not allow the focus on it to dissipate after this week.

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.

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.

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.

Foster carers inhabit a strange world. It is one where black and white don’t exist in isolation but bleed into one another.