Sita, our Fostering Director talks to us about matching and placement stability and the importance it’s plays not only for our children and young people but also our foster carers.
Matching and Placement Stability for children placed in a foster family is an area that I feel very passionately about, because, when the match is right the possibilities are endless; a child or young person can feel safe and secure, they can feel loved, they can be supported to thrive and reach their full potential and navigate the challenges and losses that have experienced in their early years.
At Ascent, a lot of thought, preparation and time is given to the matching process. This is essential when creating a family unit where every child and young person’s needs, wishes and views are taken into consideration. An example of this is P and M, a sibling group where the local authority was looking for a long-term match.
Ascent worked closely with the local authority to gather information on the children’s early life experiences and needs and initially explore these further at a professionals’ meeting where the social worker could interview the foster carers, as well as the carers also finding out more information about the children. This may include learning about the child’s educational, health, religious, and cultural needs as well as what family time looks like with the significant people in their lives.
The local authority was also able to organise a meeting between the current and prospective foster carers and also the prospective carers. This was all vital in ensuring this was the right match, that the carers had a clear understanding of the children’s needs but also that they had the skills and support to ensure they could care for the children long term.
Once this was identified as the right match, we planned for the children to have several introductions with the carers before the move, this included play dates in the park, visits and sleepovers. This ensured that the children had ample opportunities to be part of the process and enabled a smooth transition. The foster carers and Supervising Social Worker also spent time thinking about how they could enable the children from the outset to feel welcome and wanted, such as the children having the opportunity to personalise their rooms.
Where possible, we also want to encourage birth families to be a part of the process and so the foster carers also got to meet the children’s biological father. This enabled M and P’s father to feel confident in the carers and also dispel any worries he had about their move.
For the first few weeks, in addition to formal supervision, the foster carers’ SSW and Therapeutic Consultant had regular communication with the carers weekly to explore where the children were at, think about where they were at and formulate therapeutic strategies the carers could use. This reflective space also enabled the carers the time to reflect on their practice and their own needs. The foster carers have also been accessing their therapeutic parenting training as part of supporting their ongoing learning and development in therapeutic parenting.
Support for the other family members was considered and thus the SSW has undertaken direct work with the other young person in the home. Through exploring and reviewing the children’s support plans, the network continues to think about the children’s needs and how as a team around the children we can continue to ‘walk in the children’s shoes’ and think creatively about how to respond and meet their unmet needs.
Ascent is committed to partnership working and where appropriate providing the whole network with therapeutic support. This has resulted in the children feeling settled, stable and loved in their home with their foster carers. M and P are both thriving and we are so proud of both them and their foster carers who have shown incredible resilience and commitment to the children.
Feedback from our stakeholders acknowledges the agency’s approach and from one of the local authorities we work closely with we have received an award for Resilience and Placement Stability. Placement stability remains over 90% which is a reflection of how the Ascent team support the foster carer, their household, the child or young person and the child’s wider network.
For confidentiality, pseudonyms and changes in children’s information have been used.
If you would like to find out more about fostering with Ascent call us on 020 757 0070 or click here to arrange a call back.