Foster Care Information Pack - For prospective carers

Supporting the child and their family to maintain contact Applicants must demonstrate an understanding of the importance of the origins, culture, community and past experience of the child or young person in their care. [...] In particular, we will look at your ability to • draw from and apply your own personal experiences to the tasks of fostering • provide good quality day to day care for children and young people • provide a safe and nurturing environment • work with other people, particularly staff from Berry Street, other organisations and the parents and family of a child in your care. [...] Belinda and Mike feel rewarded in the parenting task, want to approach and interact with their child and are able to tune into his needs and make sense of his behaviours and their responses to them. [...] They will not only need to be able to understand the experience of the child and the impact of this on their behaviour, but also need to be prepared to adjust their parenting to take into account the impact of this early experience. [...] Carers who are open to self-care and recognise the importance of this in order to remain open to the parenting challenge being presented are likely to be more resilient over the long term than parents who see themselves as at the bottom of the list when it comes to having support for themselves.