Fostering Blog
Welcome to Groundhog Day. Well the weekend was quiet, no more calls or unpleasantness. James (name changed) had a busy weekend as we agreed that he could see Paige.
I’d had a long chat with his Dad and we agreed that they could have an hour together at our local park, while her Dad and I had a coffee and a chat. It was an interesting conversation.
Paige’s Mum had lost her job due to the COVID situation and his job was at risk. They had discussed becoming Foster Carers so he wanted to know what was involved. We had a long chat while James and Paige walked around the park, holding hands. I gave him the telephone number of my agency and he said his wife would call them for a chat.
We finally left and headed to the shops for some food shopping and then returned home. It was then football time and we spent the rest of Saturday watching FA Cup matches. Sunday was started with a very excited James saying it was snowing out. It actually snowed for most of the morning but was pretty much gone by the evening.
James went and filled the bird feeders and then he cleaned the fish tank. He had no outstanding school work so we had a walk and then back for more football and I cooked a Sunday roast. We ate it on our laps as we watched the games.
During the afternoon I had a call from a lady who I had got involved in Fostering. She had a young boy in placement, with Special Needs and was getting a lot of pressure from the child’s Local Authority (LA) to take out a SGO Guardianship Order for the child.
During discussions the LA had agreed to pay her the same allowance for the ‘foreseeable future’ but had now changed this to three years. When the carer said no the LA even threatened to move the boy unless she agreed, but she stuck to her guns. In the end it was agreed that the boy would remain, with her, in long term care, and she would maintain all the support accordingly.
The week began with a Zoom meeting for James with school and work being set for his week. His teacher had said how pleased they were with the work James was producing, during lockdown, and to keep up the good work. It was great to hear and James was very pleased with himself. So James cracked on with his school work while I pottered and carried out a tidy of my car which was a bit grubby after the weekend.
After lunch James had some more school work to complete so I did a Yoga class, don’t laugh, in front of the TV. I was exhausted afterwards as my sense of balance has always been rubbish but I felt I needed to do something to stave off cabin fever.
James finished his work and said he’d join me so I ended up doing a 2nd session which he enjoyed and I didn’t. I knew I would ache the following day but I thought it was preferable over some of the other online classes which would probably see me carted off to the local A&E.
A Simply Fostering Blogging Foster Carer.
