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Baby Sitters Blog

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Welcome to the Twilight Zone, those days between Christmas and the New Year where you haven’t got a clue what day of the week it is. James (name changed) and I have spent the week asking each other what day it is. To be honest it doesn’t really matter as, with the restrictions, we can’t do anything anyway. We’ve walked every day and tried to stick to some kind of routine in order to retain our sanity.

We have now heard that James won’t be going back to school on the day we thought, due to Covid. There doesn’t seem to be a set date when he will be returning but we know when he won’t be. Fortunately, as I don’t have a full time job, it doesn’t really affect me, but it must be very hard for those who have to go out to work.

So it’s time for a bit of housekeeping, as it’s the New Year looming. Have I done my training for this year? Are my accounts up to date? Are James’ accounts up to date? Is my diary up to date? Fortunately everything was but I tend to be overcautious about these matters as it helps cope with the more mundane day to day matters and it helps maintain your professionalism as a Foster Carer, which I feel is very important.

Sometimes the perception of Fostering is that you are a full time baby sitter. That perception annoys me. You go through a lot of training to become a Foster Carer and that training is on-going. Each placement is very different and comes with its own issues and problems, whether its parents or the young people themselves.

You are a psychologist, nurse, book keeper, chef, launderette, house keeper and child minder all rolled into one. It is significantly different from being a parent as your method of parenting maybe totally out of place with the young person. This is the reason I used to get annoyed about the use of the term ‘professional’. I’ve had newly qualified Social Workers telling me that I cannot attend a meeting because it’s for ‘Professionals’ only. That makes my blood boil!

My hopes for the New Year are that we can get shot of this Covid situation which is blighting all of our lives. That James has a good outcome in his young life, however that manifests itself. The ideal scenario would be that Mum completes rehab and never touches drugs again and that James can return home and enjoy a happy life with her.

I honestly cannot see that happening anytime soon, based on her current behaviour. I think she will struggle with rehab as she has already failed on a couple of occasions. There are too many outside factors with her regarding relationships and the people in her life.

I have been involved in placements where a parent goes through rehab, gets their child or children back and then relapses. This is very unsettling for the child or children as you, as a Carer, may have taken on another placement so the young people have to go to a new Carer.

So let’s see what 2021 bring to us all. Happy New Year.

A Simply Fostering Blogging Foster Carer.

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