19th November, 2024
Our foster carers are super stars. That’s a fact! Every day we witness them unfailingly champion the children and young people. Fostering isn’t easy, and yet, they consistently face whatever is thrown at them head on, continuing to support, embrace and love those they care for.
In short, they deserve all the praise in the world.
Here at Excel Fostering we recognise and reward in a variety of ways. Registered Manager, Emma, explained, “Foster Carers are such special people, they truly are gold dust, so we like to recognise that right from the off – after all, they’ve just been through a lengthy assessment process, we like to start their journey with a celebration.
Every newly approved foster carer will all receive a memory box to begin to collect memories alongside the children who join their family. The box contains all sorts of resources to help them as they begin this new chapter. It also includes a little plaque to remind them of the difference they’ll be making to every child or young person whose lives they touch. It lets them know how happy we are to have them as part of the team.”
From there, it’s important to maintain a culture of recognition according to Emma. Fostering comes with some big triumphs, but the team like to also recognise those day-to-day wins which often mean so much. Every month ‘Household Heroes’ are nominated by the whole team, not only for the foster carers themselves but also their children, as well as the care experienced young people.
The nominations can be anything from school achievements and excelling in hobbies. To being nurturing and caring towards others, or managing challenging situations and experiences. Everyone deserves to be celebrated for the big and the small. Once a winner is agreed, a certificate along with some chocolates is sent out – something that always goes down well.
Of course, there are also bigger events and occasions to bring everyone together too. Recently, the team held a Carer Conference event as an opportunity to meet up, recognise hard work and offer support. Each carer who attended was given a Therapeutic Parenting Goodie Bag. Included was the book, The A to Z of Therapeutic Parenting: Strategies and Solutions by Sarah Naish. A great book to dip in and out of, full of helpful advice. It also included tips on grounding and breathing exercises to help carers to co-regulate with a distressed child and hand cream, hand massage techniques and bi-lateral stimulation exercises to practice with children.
… and of course, they also handed out their super fun essential foster carer survivor kits!
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