Find out if you could be a foster carer
In a few simple questions, you’ll know if you’re suitable to apply to become a foster carer.
It is a common misconception that you cannot become a foster carer if you are over the age of 55. In fact, a large proportion of our carers across NFA are of this age and above and use their vast life experiences when it comes to caring for their foster children.
It is a common misconception that fostering is about long-term care for those that have not found adoptive parents. In fact there are 10 different types of foster care, each as important as the next in providing the right kind of support for children and young people.
Fostered children feature quite regularly in some of children's most loved stories, and what is clear in each of these narratives, is the underlying theme of friendship and love.
The arrival of a foster child is an exciting time for any household, and key to creating a smooth transition period is preparation.
The kitchen is the heart of the family home, so it’s no surprise that most kids make a beeline for it. Rather than shepherding them out, think about how you can turn their enthusiasm for the contents of your cupboards into play or learning activities.
There is a common misconception that army families are not able to foster due to the nature of their work requiring them to be posted around the UK. However, the NFA have some successful fostering army families.
Following a very detailed and comprehensive tendering process, NFA are delighted to announce that they have retained their Tier 1 provider status on the All Wales Fostering Framework for the third year in a row for 2014/15
If you are a foster parent or have been one in the past, you’ll understand that with the responsibility of caring for a child also comes a great deal of questioning from family, friends and work colleagues. A lack of common knowledge of how fostering operates and a natural curiosity of how it comes to influence everyday family life drives an interest, but when you’ve got the accountability of helping a new child settle it, sometimes you wish the questions would wait.
What we call memory is a complicated brain and body function that does not develop in most humans until they are walking and talking. Attachment theory deals with this forgotten period of human life. It shows us that the experiences of our earliest life have a formative effect that will echo through the rest of our lifetime.
Validation is the experience that our thoughts, feelings, perspectives and intentions are understood, accepted and respected by significant others.
