Fostering Blog
Our local Rotary Club hold a small fireworks display every year so James (name changed) and I decided to pay a visit.
It was all very social distancing and face masks but it made for an enjoyable evening, plus there was a barbeque, very important.
On the way home we chatted about what he wanted for Christmas and he asked what I wanted. I told him not to bother with me but he insisted on buying me something so I said I would think about it. He then asked how old I was when I had my first proper girlfriend. Obviously I asked why and he told me about this girl at school who he liked and he was thinking about asking her out.
So the rest of the evening was spent discussing girls and relationships. I pointed out that, due to lockdown, he wouldn’t be able to see her out of school anyway but he had thought about that and wanted to get to know her at school and then take her out on a date once lockdown was over. He had obviously put a lot of thought into the situation so I said I backed him and to see how it goes. Take it slowly and be nice to her.
I had a call from the Social Worker with some news. Mum had been arrested for shoplifting at her local supermarket and had ‘kicked off’ at the security guard. She had been charged with the original theft but also charged with assaulting the security guard as well. She had been bailed and had a court date in a couple of weeks.
We decided that we would not mention it to James. Apparently Mum had quite a lengthy criminal record and there was an outside chance that she would go to prison. We had quite a lengthy chat about James and she told me how well the placement was going and that her Manager was very impressed with how well he was progressing.
We agreed that it was a shame that more men were not involved in Fostering as some of these teenage boys would thrive in a situation where they had a male influence on a one to one basis. She scheduled in a visit, after lockdown and we said our goodbyes. I rang my Supervising Social Worker and gave an update about my conversation with James’ Social Worker. We also pencilled in a visit, after lockdown, to coincide with the Social Worker.
James came home very happy as the girl had agreed to go out with him and he had told her about the plan regarding getting to know each other and then going on a date when lockdown had finished. He told me her name was Paige and she lived about fifteen minutes away from us.
I gave him a few tips, not that I’m an expert, but reminded him not to forget his mates and that it mustn’t affect his school work. Don’t sit next to her in class and give her some space to be with her friends. He agreed to all of this and went to do his homework.
Fingers crossed this would work out ok.
A Simply Fostering Blogging Foster Carer.
