How I support our Foster Carers through tough times - Part 2

Jenny, our Carer Engagement Officer, continues to tell us about her role and how she provides a helping hand to our foster carers in tough times. 

How can the foster carers contact you?

Foster carers can reach me via telephone or email, and hopefully, soon, I will be available on Zoom for regular catch-ups with our foster carers at convenient times to work around them. If we want to discuss their situation in more depth, then that can be arranged, and again, I can fit around when it's best for them. I will be at foster carer support groups and getting to know everyone well. If the foster carers are struggling with something on a deeper level, I will go back and either visit or call them to carry that on the conversation. I will be getting my face visible so that when people hit a crisis, and I'm there to support them, they don't feel like I'm the stranger who doesn't know anything coming into their lives. I ensure that when I visit, it's within the easiest time and place for our foster carers.

I want to meet everybody. I want to see what their challenges are. I want to see what the themes are that go through all the families, and I want to see what individual challenges are happening for people. People are kind enough to share their stories and so generous in what they think that will do for other foster carers. It's a beautiful thing, and I'm eternally grateful for it.

If you could summarise some top tips for a foster carer who might be struggling, what advice would you give them?

Knowing that it will pass, it's not forever. It is acknowledging how difficult that is. Foster carers must hear that acknowledgement when they are going through tough times because it's not easy to do when things feel chaotic or a bit out of control in your home. It is to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the support from people around them who can hold them through it. Use the help that you have around you. One of our foster carers told me that when she was finding things difficult, she would go back and look at the referral from when that young person or child came into their care. So if you've had them for any period of time to go back, and remember who walked through your front door, and how much good you've done, and that this is part of the good that you are doing, and staying with them, being tenacious, being consistent and available. Remember that even in the most challenging times, you are still helping that young person. Even if it feels personal and challenging, this is the moment you're making the most significant difference. You have opened your doors to a young person, which most of the population couldn't do, which makes every foster care special and unique.

What advice would you give to someone considering fostering?

Good luck! It won't be what you imagine, but it has huge rewards. Vulnerable children out there need you.

There is enough support here that makes the parts that feel difficult to hold you through that, and enough great stuff that carries foster carers through.

Find out more about our Nexus Fostering Mentoring Scheme to see how our experienced foster carers support new foster carers in assessment and once approved - Foster Carer Mentoring Scheme | Nexus Fostering