Fostering Blogger Fosterman
Well the heat is affecting me and James (name changed). I took to Amazon and bought us both a fan for our respective bedrooms. It certainly made a difference temperature wise and, once you got used to the noise, it helped us get some much needed sleep.
The weather people are expecting the weather to get hotter this coming weekend so James is under strict instructions to wear a cap and drink plenty of water whatever plans he has for the weekend. I’ve watered the garden today and put some water in the bird bath which seems to have gone down well.
I always keep the bird feeder well stocked and James also keeps an eye on it and ensures that it’s full. James is always good with little tasks like that as he has been with his fish tank. When he first got it I was concerned whether he would get bored with it as they do need a lot of maintenance.
However he has been excellent at keeping it clean, well organised and keeping the fish alive. He cleans it weekly and is quick to replace any dead fish. He has a couple of books that I bought him, and he is seen occasionally reading it in order to gain knowledge on water quality and setting up his tank. He has made the tank, literally, part of the furniture and anyone who comes around to the house spends time looking at it.
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I had a surprise visit from my Supervising Social Worker (SSW) today. We have one a year to check up on how things are. I was literally just going out to get some shopping so I delayed that. We sat and chatted for a couple of hours regarding how the placement was going, the Special Guardianship Order (SGO) and life in general.
It’s always appreciated when your SSW asks about you as well as the placement. Regardless of how well organised you are with a placement there are always issues which you need to discuss with somebody. We talked about mental health, an issue which appears to be a thread in Fostering at the moment.
As a Foster Carer you go through many traumatic experiences such as the end of a placement or allegations and it can have long term effects on your mental wellbeing. When I was married we had two placements of new born babies and we found the end of those placements very traumatic and actually received little or no support from the LA we were working for at the time. Apparently, as we were a couple, we could support each other and we needed no support from anyone else.
We actually considered giving up Fostering as a result of this but then received a call from an Independent Fostering Agency asking if we wanted to move to them. We agreed to this and the rest was history.
How such situations were dealt with was a lot more considerate with the IFA and we never looked back after that. The care of the placement is hugely important but the way that you, as a Carer, are looked after is also important too.
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