Celebrating family tradition with a foster child

Taking on a foster child is a huge responsibility and making a child feel welcome can be one of the hardest hurdles for you to overcome together - especially early on in your placement. In this blog, we will be discussing the benefits of building and following a family tradition with your foster child.

Family Tradition

Most families have their own traditions, special events and ways of living – we’re sure yours is no different! Embracing family traditions with your new foster child is a fantastic way to build a family bond. It could be anything from a yearly trip to the beach or doing the same chores as other family members. Doing this can help a foster child feel included and equal to the rest of their new family and will also help a child integrate and builds trust. Tradition also goes as far as to include passing down your family’s beliefs through generations. Providing a child with knowledge or a specialised skill is a great way to help bestow a child with information they may not have learned otherwise.

Build New Family Traditions

As well as celebrating your family traditions, you can work with the foster child to build new ones. Chances are, your foster child will have hobbies that you know nothing about or very little about. Maybe it’s football practice with a local team, or joining a local gardening club – there are many opportunities to celebrate a child’s skills and accomplishments as a family.

Religious Celebrations

At Nexus Fostering, we aim to ensure a foster family and foster child have matching religions as we begin a placement process. We understand the importance of practising religion – holding the same beliefs as a family can greatly help foster children feel like they belong. We value having foster parents from a wide variety of backgrounds, religions and cultures as this can can help us match households with as many children as possbile across the country. It’s important to remember that although we always aim to bring in a child with a matching religious background, that isn’t always possible. You must remain tolerant and accepting of your foster child’s religion even if it is different from your own. .