What Foster Carers Do?

Carers Feedback

What Foster Carers Do

Foster carers play an extremely important role in supporting some of the most disadvantaged children and enabling their successful transition into independent, adult life. Fostering is a challenging role and requires skills and dedication. We need to encourage more people to become foster carers and make sure that they have the support and skills required to meet the varied and complex needs of looked-after children. Some of the roles and responsibilities that foster carers take on are as listed below:
Foster Carers role in the recent years has become more and more complex and demanding. Foster carers should either already have or must be prepared to develop their skills and competences in the following four areas:
child holding a rebbit

Caring for children and young people

  • Ability to provide a good standard of care to other people’s children which promotes healthy emotional, physical, and sexual development as well as their health and educational achievement.
  • An ability to work closely with children’s families, and others who are important to the child.
  • An ability to set appropriate boundaries and manage children’s behaviour within these, without use of physical and inappropriate punishment.
  • Knowledge of normal child development and an ability to listen to and communicate with children appropriate to their age and understanding.

Providing a safe and caring environment

  • An ability to ensure that children are cared for in a home where they are safe from harm or abuse.
  • An ability to help children keep themselves safe from harm or abuse, and to know how to seek help if their safety is threatened.

Working as a team

  • An ability to work with other professional people and contribute to the local authority’s planning for the child/young person.
  • An ability to communicate effectively.
  • An ability to keep information confidential.
  • An ability to promote equality, diversity and rights of individuals and groups within society.

Own development

  • An ability to appreciate how personal experiences have affected you and your family and the impact fostering is likely to have on you all.
  • An ability to have people and links within the community which provide support.
  • An ability to use training opportunities and to improve skills.
  • An ability to sustain positive patterns of relationships and maintain effective functioning through periods of stress.
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