The ‘Caring Kids Group’ was created to let birth children of Alliance carers meet up to share ideas and experiences with other young people who foster.
Twice a year, youngsters aged 5-18 from foster families can talk about anything, from successes they want to share to worries and difficulties.
Caring Kids starts in the morning with a group sit-down to discuss the theme of the day and take part in fun activities.
Then after enjoying lunch, everyone gets involved in a fun activity — in February this meant hours of tree climbing and zip wires at the Jungle Parc.
This month’s morning session became a ‘re-branding’ event, where the young people had their say on how they wanted their group to run.
Feedback and ideas were shared on several things, from the value and importance of the sessions, to the name and logo of the group.
The decision was taken to stick with the winning meeting format and also the name ‘Caring Kids’ — but the debut of ‘Timothy the Turtle’ was a welcome development.
The new Alliance mascot helped everyone channel and develop ideas about what it means to be part of a fostering family.
Using Timothy’s name as a framework, the group summarised what being the child of a foster carer can represent:
Take time
I am caring
Making a difference
Outgoing
Together
Helping people
Youngsters
