Rise in children needing foster carers in Essex
Essex County Council are campaigning for more people to get into foster care
Essex County Council are campaigning to help encourage more people to become foster carers.
This is following on from the report by think-tank Social Market Foundation saying that children needing foster care will rise.
The article by LBC says that there will be a 50% increase in children needing foster care.
Due to the impact of Coronavirus, the fostering service has seen a 30% reduction in approved foster carers this year.
This reduction, coupled with a rise in children needing foster care, means the system could struggle to keep up.
The fostering system could then be unable to place children, and many children will suffer from lack of love and support from a family.
Essex County Council want to highlight the life changing difference foster carers are making in giving children a second chance at the childhood they have been deprived of.
The campaigns are there to find more foster carers and to help children to recover from the trauma experienced.
Debbie Fleming (56) and Alison Carter (54), a couple from Essex, want to stress the importance of foster carers and the support they get from Essex County Council.
The couple have been foster carers for 7 years, after not having any children of their own and loving spending quality time with their nieces and nephews.
Debbie and Alison from Epping currently have two boys aged 12 and 9 in their care.
The couple recognise that their eldest foster child, in particular, lost out on a large part of his childhood as he took on the role of both mother and father at a young age. He would routinely look after his younger brother; going to the shops to buy food, cooking them dinner, and making sure he got ready for school.
Debbie and Alison are keen to provide their foster children with nurturing therapeutic care so that they can focus on being a child again.
Alison said:
“Fostering isn’t about ‘saving' a young person – it's about helping a young person recover from their past traumas and be the best they can be through stability, consistency, and love. All the things a child deserves from a parent.
“We will hopefully help them to develop the self-confidence, ability, and life skills they will need to become the successful adults they deserve to be.
"There is no greater reward than seeing your foster children develop into happy young people who are enjoying their childhood!”
Essex County Council’s Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Barbara Canepa said:
“Childhood should be a time of nurturing and feeling safe to play, learn, socialise and explore – a pivotal point which lays the foundation for the adult they become. Playing and feeling secure enough to behave like a child is essential to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of young people.
“Sadly, it’s quite common for many foster children to have missed out on large parts of their childhood through trauma and neglect, many have also played a parenting role to their younger siblings and parents”.
Barbara added:
“Foster carers can help a child heal from their trauma by giving them a second chance at childhood.
"Our role is to give them the knowledge, support and tools to do so”.
Essex County Council, who have been successfully matching children with foster parents for more than 50 years, are today urging more people to consider opening their homes and changing the life of a young person with disabilities.
In the next 12 months, over 7,000 new foster families are needed across the UK to care for a range of children.
Foster carers can be single, married, from a same-sex family or retired. It can be undertaken on a part-time basis alongside a full-time job or offered as a full-time role, both with the full support of Essex County Council.
Essex County Council provide local training to all foster carers and provide ongoing support.
They have adapted quickly to the pandemic to ensure that much needed support is continued by running training and information events virtually.
There is also an active network of support groups providing opportunities to meet and learn from other foster carers, with many going on to make long-term friendships.
Debbie and Alison are recommending that anyone thinking about fostering children or young people should just pick up the phone and enquire.
Debbie said:
“Fostering really has been the best decision we ever made as a couple and it’s totally changed our lives together for the better.
“We have come to realise that our foster children don’t want expensive toys or grand gestures – it’s the small and simple things in life that they want and need. Like taking them to the beach for the first time or teaching them to ride a bike – all firsts for the young boys we care for. Sadly, it has also meant reassuring them that they won’t go hungry, which is so sad as no child should be without such a basic need”.
Debbie added:
“The difference you can make to a young person, just by treating them as part of your family, is huge.
“And that’s very much how we see our foster children – a part of our family. There is no greater reward than seeing them develop into happy young people who are enjoying their childhood!”
Over 7,000 new foster families are needed in the next 12 months in the UK to care for a range of children.
To foster you need to be over 21 and have a spare room.
A high proportion of children who come into care in Essex are aged ten and over so there is also a particular need for foster carers who can provide homes for older children, as well as those who can accommodate sibling groups and children with disabilities.
In 2019, young people aged 10-16 accounted for 56 per cent of the children who came into Essex County Council’s care.
For more information about fostering and join one of the online events visit https://bit.ly/3dKZK5j or call 0800 801 530.