Thursday 24 March 2016
On the 1st of August the South West team held a consultation event for children and young people in Devon. The Theme of the event was to understand from the children ‘What makes a good foster carer?”.
Nathalie Palin who is an artist and creative events consultant joined Area Manager Sue Beale, along with Social Workers from her team to create three different activities designed to support the children of various ages and abilities in discussions about fostering. The event was attended by 21 children aged between 10 months and 16 years old, accompanied by 15 foster carers.
There were some wonderful paper men and women made, with the young people choosing to create a display on the window to showcase their work. The children created a large mural depicting how they would explain fostering to aliens, the most popular comments from the children and young people were that they ‘liked cuddles’, ‘going out places’ and a message for foster carers ‘Don’t try too hard to be liked – just be yourself’.
There are many ways you can become a good foster carer. View our Infographic about what makes a good home for foster children, conducted by children in foster care between ages 2-16: https://www.nfa.co.uk/news-and-blog/childrens-consultation-event-south-west-team/
It was good to hear from carers and social workers that children who attended that had recently come into care got such a lot from meeting other children in similar situations to themselves.
‘A very big thank you to everyone who organised Thursdays activity day at the Waie Inn, we thought it was a great opportunity for the children to express themselves and get to know their social workers in a neutral environment..’
‘It was glorious last week, I enjoyed it so much and it made me see that I’ve definitely made the right decision to transfer to The National Fostering Agency’.
The next Children and Young Person’s Consultation event in the South West will be on 29th August at Monkey World in Weymouth, where the children will have the opportunity to look around Monkey World and take part in activities that will allow them to express their thoughts on what makes a good foster carer.