We believe in making a real difference to the children we work with, however, this only is achieved through us ‘walking in their shoes’ and being alongside them on their journey. Therefore, in light of our approach and values, our focus is supporting children to feel a sense of belonging, be a part of a family, and develop a safe relationship with their primary carer, the wider family and then network. Through having fundamental opportunities to form safe, meaningful and trusted relationships, we believe our children can be successful in all their endeavours.
Therefore, whilst we have many success stories of our children who are excelling well in their academic studies, or other tangible areas such as health or the fact that all our children are engaged in one extracurricular activity, success to us may not always be conventional or in line with how outcomes are usually measured.
Live success stories to us are and have been:
- A young person calling the foster carers’ SSW and wanting to show off his blue hair because he has a relationship with the SSW and is proud of himself and his new style
- Children and young people attending the workshops Ascent has facilitated on sexual health, healthy and unhealthy relationships
- Our children and young people form meaningful and trusting relationships with their mentors where clear goals are set together for their future hopes and aspirations
- A foster carer sharing how they are implementing a new therapeutic strategy in supervision and the positive impact it has had on their relationship with their young person
- A child and carer showing claiming behaviours to one another for example; them choosing how to address one another such as ‘Mum2’ and ‘son’
- Our SSW connects with our children by playing tennis, baking, or playing music together
- Children feel a sense of belonging and are visibly present in the home, through personalising their room, seeing their photos around the home or owning a door key
- Children wanting to seek appropriate affection or receive nurturing experiences from their foster carers such as cuddles before bedtime, a carer washing and plaiting a child’s hair, having ‘snack and chat’ after school
- We have many carer leavers who have maintained contact with the agency and their foster carers
- Our placement stability remains over 90%, whilst many of our children and young people have faced several changes in placement before joining an Ascent family
- A carer acknowledging when they are struggling and wanting to reach out for support and as a collective, we think out of the box to support them
- Success looks like a child who has refused to engage with CAMHS is talking to our therapist during a session in a car or a cafe
- Children having opportunities to interact and engage in normal family life such as attending family BBQs, parties, events
- Foster carers creating a Santas grotto during COVID so that a mother and her son can still experience their annual Winter Wonderland experience resulting in positive family time