If you are interested in providing foster care to
children within North Somerset please read the following case
studies.
As you will see, these children have a variety of different
needs and are in need of our services and your care for a range of
different reasons.
Jenny is five years old and has severe learning and
physical disabilities.
She is totally dependent on others for all her personal care
needs, and is tube fed. She also has a strict medication regime,
which must be followed in order to stabilise her epilepsy and heart
condition.
Although she has no speech, Jenny can use gestures and sounds to
let you know what she wants. It just takes a while to 'tune in' and
understand her.
Jenny lives with her parents and three sisters, two of whom also
have moderate learning difficulties. Her parents have some health
problems themselves, and although they have a lot of support
services, are finding it increasingly difficult to meet all their
children's needs.
Jenny now receives care for part of each week with a 'shared
care' foster carer, a single woman who has some nursing experience.
This enables her parents to give more time to their other children
and recharge their batteries.
Otherwise they were fearful of losing Jenny either to a
residential school or to full-time foster care. It is important for
all of them that she remains part of the family as much as
possible.
Ryan, Jack and Sarah are brothers and sister aged seven,
five and three.
Due to violence within their family they have been placed in
foster care because their safety and development were being placed
at risk.
It will be some months before we know whether their parents can
make the necessary changes to care for the children safely. In the
meantime the children need to be together, with foster carers who
can provide good quality care, but also understand how confused and
upset they are at being away from home. Ryan worries about his mum
being safe and also tries to be a parent to Jack and Sarah.
Their parents visit regularly and have accepted that they need
to use the help available to make big changes to their own lives if
they want to care for the children again.
At present this is the plan, but if the parents are unable to
keep to it, then Children and Young People's Services may need to
take legal action to prevent Ryan, Jack and Sarah returning home.
Then their foster carers will need to help them cope with this loss
and prepare to move to a permanent alternative family.
John Is 13 and has learning difficulties, so attends the
local special school.
Since reaching his teens, John has shown some inappropriate
sexualised and aggressive behaviour which his parents cannot
tolerate because they feel John is a risk to their 11 and
nine-year-old daughters. John has been continuously blamed and
criticised which in turn makes his behaviour worse.
Various therapists were unable to help the family to make
changes and the parents wanted to plan for John to be looked after
by Children and Young People's Services, before they reached a
crisis point.
John attended a residential respite unit, and reports from there
and his school showed that John could behave appropriately when
given clear boundaries, praise and encouragement. He loves computer
games, football and pop music, but is not aware of 'stranger
danger' and needs a lot of supervision.
John's foster carers provide a high level of care and have no
younger children. They are helping him to develop his social skills
and keep positive contact with his family.
Janice is 11 years old and lives with her grandmother,
because her mother is in poor health and uses drugs
heavily.
While Janice's grandmother is very committed to her she needs
some extra help at times because Janice's mum also makes a lot of
demands on her.
Janice has a regular weekend once a month with respite foster
carers. They have children slightly younger than her, and she
enjoys the experience of life in a family that is more relaxed than
her own.
Janice has had some chaotic periods in her life and is taking
some time to sort out who she is and make strong attachments to the
important people in her life. Having a foster family who are
committed to her in a regular and committed way, and who are also
positive about her grandmother is proving a great help.
Michael is 10 and lives with his mother and younger
brother and sister.
He is a wheelchair user due to cerebral palsy. He can attend the
local school with extra help, but moving to secondary school will
be quite a challenge.
Michael has a good sense of humour but becomes very frustrated
when he cannot join in some activities at home or school, which can
result in sullen moods and shouting. His family understand why he
'takes it out' on them but still find it very upsetting.
Michael and his family have various support services to enable
him to live at home and be like his mates wherever possible. He
wanted to be able to spend time with other families and have
'sleepovers' but this was difficult because of the equipment he
needs. He has now been introduced to a Family Link family who have
children of a similar age and are prepared to have the necessary
equipment in their home. Michael can have regular stays with them
and they will involve him in activities appropriate to his age.
This also provides regular help to Michael's mother, who was
very clear she did not want Michael to have to go to a residential
unit. She has developed trust in the Family Link carers and knows
they are willing to make a long-term commitment to Michael.
Jane is 14 years old. She came into the care of the
local authority when she was 10 years old, because her mother was
unable to cope with Jane and her brother due to their
behaviour.
While Jane's brother settled well in his placement, Jane was
devastated by what she saw as her mother's rejection and began
playing this out in her behaviour, including running away from her
placements.
Jane's father is Jamaican and her mother white English. At the
moment she has little contact with either but would like to see
more of them.
Jane is a young person who needs firm boundaries. She has had a
number of foster placements so needed carers who could make a
commitment to her until she is able to live independently. They
will also need to support her if her parents do not fulfil her
expectations, and help her find out about the Jamaican side of her
heritage. A foster carer who shares the same heritage would have
been a great advantage.
Jane finds it difficult to trust adults. She needed carers
willing to offer security, support and nurturing without emotional
commitment from Jane initially. Jane is bright, but only attends
school on a part-time basis for key lessons, so a lot of help is
necessary to assist her work towards her potential.
Jane's carers work within the Single Placement Scheme.
Paul is 16 years old and comes from a large family. He
has been brought up by his mother, as his father died when he was
14 years old.
Paul has missed a lot of education due to truancy, and has
become involved with a local group of young people who are known to
offend.
Paul has a close relationship with his mother and siblings but
sees his mother as a friend rather than authority figure, so he
finds it difficult to accept discipline from adults. He is still
affected by the loss of his father and sometimes seems cut off from
his feelings and also the feelings of others. This may be why he
continues to offend, refusing to accept the consequences for his
victims.
Paul appeared in court for the theft of a motorbike. As he was
already subject of a supervision order he was remanded to the care
of the local authority.
Paul is placed with Youth Justice Foster Carers who are helping
him accept the bad things that have happened to him and understand
the impact of his offending.
Paul is not in education so is involved in a day care programme.
His carers need to be available to support these plans, and
encourage the positives in his relationships with his family.
Paul's carers work within the Youth Justice Foster Carer
Scheme.
For further information about how you can become involved in
foster care contact our
Adoption and Fostering
team.
