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Marking a decade of togetherness

Jude Black has been a social worker for 40 years and currently works for the fostering team at Gloucestershire County Council. She created one of the first groups in England catering specifically for birth children of foster carers and has overseen its growth and development. The group is now well established and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.
By DavidEggboro on July 21st, 2016

Campaigns update June 2016

Aside from fretting over the home nations' performances in the Euros, there's been a lot else going on in our campaigns team over the past few weeks.
By Policy and Campaigns tFN on July 18th, 2016

Ben Weighill talks Dreams and aspirations

Ben Weighill, 25, is an amateur singer/songwriter from Chesterfield who is the voice behind the soundtrack to the new Dreams advert – a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time.

​Dreams, the UKs leading bed specialist, has teamed up with The Fostering Network to raise money and awareness for foster care around the UK. As part of this partnership Dreams is donating its proceeds from sales of Ben’s single.

Buy it today from Amazon, Google Play or iTunes and support the work of The Fostering Network.

By DavidEggboro on July 18th, 2016

Attitude

I was recently asked by a social worker if I’d have a chat with a relatively new foster carer about the behaviour of the 12-year-old she was fostering. Her main complaint was that the girl had a bad ‘attitude’ and swore. On the scale of things this behaviour didn’t seem too bad to me so I had to think carefully what to say.
By Cathy Glass on July 13th, 2016

The waiting game

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. For those of you who were following my family’s journey into foster care, you’ll know that we were approved as foster carers at the end of April this year, and I’ve been indulging in a little radio silence since then.
By Lucy Stevens on June 30th, 2016

Sanctions and Rewards

For the third and final part of my blog on managing teen behaviour let’s look at sanctions and rewards. At this age talking to, reasoning with and discussing are paramount ingredients for good parenting. A lot of negative behaviour can be corrected eventually through this medium, particularly if the boundaries and guidelines are already in place.
By Cathy Glass on June 7th, 2016

Creativity permeates everything we do

Dominic Stevenson, senior media officer at The Fostering Network and published poet, shares his thoughts on creativity:

I have worked at The Fostering Network for over four and a half years. In that time I’ve met countless foster carers and children, and I have laughed and cried with them as we have worked together, celebrated successes, and just had a generally wonderful time at events like the annual Foster Walk. One person that particularly sticks in my mind is a little girl who I first met at a Foster Walk in 2014, and in 2015 I was able to invite her and her foster carer to our annual awards where she got to meet the Duchess of Cambridge. Afterward she sent me a beautiful card thanking me and I have it in pride of place on my desk.

By Foster Care Fortnight on May 27th, 2016

All I want to do is dance, sing and act - Matthew's story

My name is Matthew Miller I am 16 years of age and I have been in care all my life. I have had a lot of foster carers in this time until I was finally moved to my present carers 8 years ago.
By Foster Care Fortnight on May 26th, 2016

Flying high - Andrew's story

Andrew Mulley was a teenage tearaway, by his own admission, but, after a chance meeting, hard work and the support of those around him, he has now realised his dream of becoming a pilot.​ Here is Andrew’s story in his own words.
By Foster Care Fortnight on May 26th, 2016

Staying Put - the potential to be transformational

Don’t Move Me was the successful campaign led by The Fostering Network to allow young people to stay with their foster carers until the age of 21. This came into law in England in 2014 (Staying Put), Scotland in 2015 (Continuing Care) and Wales in 2016 (When I Am Ready). This was already happening in Northern Ireland for young people in education, employment and training through the Going the Extra Mile scheme.
By Foster Care Fortnight on May 26th, 2016