We have three placements but no contact or school. It was actually a quiet time and the house had a nice peaceful aura about it. For D we found some football courses at a local football centre which he attended alongside our own children. This left us alone with the babies who we were used to dealing with. When the football finished we would take the kids out for trips to the coast and even a trip up to London. Fortunately we had a seven seater vehicle which was ideal for trips out. The vehicle was easy to drive and the seats were easy to arrange in such a way that the kids were transported in a convenient and safe way. Everything was good, the kids were all happy and the babies were thriving in our care. We were fully up to date with our training which we thoroughly enjoyed. Now training had been moved online it was a lot more simple to do and a lot easier to focus. I have always enjoyed meeting up with other carers but I found training difficult with the many distractions involved in a room full of people. There were always people turning up late due to traffic or child care issues. We were lucky that we always had excellent trainers who knew how to teach people and were always positive and happy to help. The agency always used top class venues. However online training came in and was a positive step. There was an expectation of 5 training courses per annum on top of your 5 core training courses. It appears now that all IFAs have excellent online training courses which are well administered. Your training record should be readily available and transferable, so if you do change to another Fostering service provider they can gain access to your record.
We were coming to the end of D’s time with us and it was sad to see him go. He was a lovely lad who was kind and respectful. Our boys thought a lot of him as did the rest of our family. He was collected by a Social Worker for the long journey back to the West country. We hoped to see him again but we were aware that he had family abroad who had expressed interest in adopting him. But we ensured we kept in contact with him and I do to this day. After he left us it was a quiet period of time and would remain so until the boys returned to school. We had a couple of meetings and a unannounced visit by our Supervising Social Worker (SSW). We totally agreed with the need for these visits although we were aware that some carers found them intrusive. We were actually preparing lunch when our SSW knocked. We both looked at each other wondering who had forgot to tell the other about the visit. However our SSW informed us that the visit was unannounced and therefore joined us for lunch.
Recent Comments