A Fostering Journey 100

H had settled into our routine very quickly and he was a pleasure to have around. He loved being around L and T and being a big brother. He was a happy little chap who was very well behaved and very sociable. There was only one real negative in this arrangement and that was his Social Worker. The name sounded familiar when we first heard it but we couldn’t think of where we had heard it before. It then came to us after reading through past diaries. When we first became Foster Carers we worked for an Inner London local authority and one of our first placements was a young baby of about 6 months. Mum had decided that she didn’t want to be a Mother at 15 and put baby up for adoption. Basically we cared for her for about 12 months until one day we received a call saying she was being moved to another Foster Carer. The Social Worker who made that call was H’s. Fostering is quite a small world and you do bump into people on quite a regular. 99% of those people you are happy to see but this Social Worker was the 1%. To be honest, she was probably a very good Social Worker and she was put into a difficult position but we felt that she could of explained the situation better than she actually did. But we felt we would not mention anything as this situation was irrelevant to H and he was who we were focussing on. Shortly though it was time for H to move back to his long term Carer and off he went. We kept in touch with both him and his Carer and met regularly at support groups and events. I am often asked how to choose a good Agency to work with. Use the internet, read reports and talk to other Carers to find out. Fostering UK is easily one of the best. It’s friendly, welcoming, professional and well thought of. Support and training are two important factors for me and Fostering UK are certainly excellent with regards to that. The bigger national agencies are good but it’s amazing how many carers are leaving those agencies and moving to the smaller independents. My first Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) was basically run by two people and worked in one specific area. We were head hunted as one of our trainers at the LA had transferred to this IFA. It was soon clear what the differences were between the two and we soon settled into working for that agency. That agency is now one of the biggest in the country having bought up many other smaller agencies around the country. I don’t work for them anymore but through word of mouth I hear that Carers are moving on because the miss the more personal satisfaction you get from a smaller independent agency. So do some digging around, talk to people, read reviews and take your time in choosing. Remember bigger isn’t always better. Don’t forget that Fostering is a job and it’s your job. Treat it as such.