Welcome
Download the Campaign Report & Draft Letter to MP's
December 10, 2021
I’m from Yorkshire, I call a spade a spade.
I’ve watched all the “professionals” scramble to get in on the act. Andy Elvin of TACT, Children England, The Fostering Network, SMS Think Tank, Ofsted. They’re all at it and we’re expected to suspend our amusement and play along with the notion that they’ve all had individual “light bulb” moments and ignore to interwoven seam of network connections between them all.
One of the CRWA steering group members, Robin Sen, did a Freedom of Information request to see if there was any interaction between the “independent” Chair of the “Review”, MacAlister, and Andy Elvin of TACT, *SPOILER ALERT*, there was, A LOT.
Fostering homes are homes, they are the place where children open their birthday presents, play on the swing in the garden, sit at the dining table while their foster carer supports them with their homework, places to laugh and love and build happy memories and learn and grow ready to become a valuable member of society achieving great things as so many care experienced adults have shown us. They are not “market procurement opportunities.
The reasons for the lack of sufficiency are well known and MPs and Barristers have been raising concerns for years.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/20/foster-carers-fight-working-rights-trade-unions
A “we ship any child” database will not fix retention. It will not result in fair treatment. The system will continue to lose highly skilled committed foster carers. Children well end up being shipped around the country to available beds harming their education, emotional and mental health and putting them at increased risk of exploitation.
A NATIONAL database will not increase LOCAL sufficiency. Improving protection and rights for foster carers is the only way to do this.
You may have seen John Lewis Partnership announce their intention to become a fostering friendly employer.
FosterSupport is one of the organisations who have been working with them over the past year. After many months of collaboration this August we facilitated a series of bespoke training courses to JLP managers to give them an insight into the trauma informed training foster carers use when supporting young people to enable them to better understand how to support their care experienced employees. This collaboration will continue next year as they continue to expand their employment scheme. We have also had meetings to provide advice and information to support their bespoke fostering friendly employer scheme. With our support they plan to make this the gold standard policy for fostering friendly organisations. HERE is the video we made for them to promote the internal training sessions. The feedback we received from them about the training was brilliant.
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