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Fostering
What will be asked of me as a foster carer?
Fostering Service, Family Placement Unit - June 2006
fostering@kirklees.gov.uk
As a foster carer you will provide day to day care for any child who needs looking after. You will help to implement a care plan for individual children. This may include specific responsibilities e.g. making sure the child is able to visit her/his family and friends.
Whatever your age or personal circumstances - you can do it. As long as you have the space in your home to look after a child, it doesn't matter whether you own a house, rent a flat or get housing benefit.
What matters most is that you are able to help the child feel comfortable with their surroundings and give them a sense of their true potential. You must also be able to demonstrate a mature, responsible attitude and have the skills and qualities needed to care for children separated from their own families.
As a Kirklees foster carer it will quickly become clear that you are working as part of a closely-knit team - consisting of staff and professionals from the council and many agencies, such as Kirklees Foster Carers Network, health workers, BAAF, The Fostering Network and external fostering agencies.
You will be helped to work within government guidelines to make sure that each child reaches their potential.
You will take part in meetings about the child you are caring for, keep written records about their care and contribute to reports about the child, dealing responsibly with confidential information. And at every stage carers are offered support and training and are expected to undertake training identified in their annual review.
Do I need special skills?
Foster carers are ordinary people doing an extraordinary job.
To be a successful carer, you will need an ability:
- to provide a good standard of care for other people's children, promoting safety, healthy development and achievement.
- to work closely with these children's families and others important to the child.
- to set boundaries and manage a child's behaviour without resorting to physical or inappropriate punishment.
These are not special skills, just qualities you will already have developed through life experience. There are always hidden qualities that come out as part of your assessment and training process.
Making the best use of our training opportunities, will help you to develop your skills and appreciate how personal experiences have affected you and your family as well as how fostering will affect everyone concerned.
We can help you to develop many of the skills and networks you will need. But the most important skill you will have is that you care enough to make a difference, offering support at a difficult time in a child's life.
If you have any further questions about your suitability to foster, contact us and we will be pleased to help you. With our help, very soon, you could be doing something extraordinary.
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