Fostering blog
LGBTQ+ adoption and fostering campaign 2024
We are proud to support New Family Social's LGBTQ+ Adoption and Fostering Week 2024 (external link), which launched on Monday 4 March 2024.
This year's campaign focusses on people from LGBTQ+ minoritised groups, calling on them to consider adopting and fostering.
In England last year:
- 29% of looked-after children were from minoritised ethnic groups
- 1 in 5 adoptions were of same-sex couples
The need for adoption and fostering applicants is both urgent and great.
We positively encourage applications from individuals and couples from LGBTQ+ communities.
Remand Fostering
Could you support young people aged 16,17 or 18 who are going through a difficult period in their lives? If so, you’ll be supported by getting paid from £467 per week…
We are looking for ‘Remand Foster Carers’ whose role is to care for young people while they await court dates for an offence they are alleged to have committed. So, if you are the type of person who is good at influencing a young person to ‘turn things around’ and would be able to provide short-term foster care in this remit, we would love to hear from you.
The length of placements could vary but are a maximum of few months. By providing this type of specialist fostering, it offers an alternative to a young person living in custodial care before appearing in court.
You may be particularly suited to remand fostering if you have previous experience of fostering, you have experience of working with young people, or if you have a passion for guiding young people and rebuilding their self-esteem.
These types of placements are believed to decrease the cycle of imprisonment and re-offending, helping them into a better future.
What is the role of a foster carer during a remand placement?
During a remand placement, the foster carer's role is to:
- supervise and care for the young person in their home
- support the young person to develop skills in communication, conflict resolution, relationships, and day-to-day life skills
- keep records, provide evidence of the young person's progress, and report any safeguarding concerns to the young person's Social Worker and their own Supervising Social Worker
- respect the young person's specific ethnic and cultural needs
- work closely with other professionals
- accompany the young person to and from court appearances
- attend foster care training
Remand Foster Carers receive a higher allowance
As with any specialist placement, remand foster carers receive a higher allowance from £467 per week. This allowance reflects the complexities of the placement and additional skills needed.
Please bear in mind you will be provided with training and emotional and financial support every step of the way.
To register your interest in remand fostering, or for further information, email us at fosteringrecruitment@haringey.gov.uk or phone 020 8489 3754.
'Any of Us' – has become a multi-award-winning film
We are thrilled to announce that the fostering awareness-raising film 'Any of Us' has become multi-award-winning.
The film scooped 'Best Collaboration' and 'Best Creative Comms' categories at the comms2point0 unawards, which recognises excellence in public sector communications.
We participated in the project and supported it with funding, hoping the production would encourage people to consider fostering for Haringey Council.
Shortlisted in 5 categories, the film project involves more than 80 council fostering teams from across the UK, making it the largest public sector collaboration to date.
ReelTwentyFive produced the film, which was project managed by agency CAN Digital and fostering consultant, Rachel Brown.
National Adoption Week
To mark the launch of National Adoption Week, 16-22 October 2023, Haringey and Adopt London North join adoption agencies around the country to share a powerful set of portraits captured by London-based royal, fashion, and portrait photographer, Philip Sinden (external link), who was adopted himself in the 1970s.
The portraits show striking imagery of eight people adopted between 1960s and 2010s against a backdrop of their own emotive, poignant words that bring to life how adoption has shaped, and continues to shape, their lives and highlights how adoption has changed over the years.
The portraits have been released alongside a new film (external link) captured during the photoshoot and hears first-hand the different experiences of the adopted people featured.
Read more about this project (external link).
Black History Month: The Need For More Foster Carers
To celebrate Black History Month, we caught up with Esi, an amazing foster carer and Chair of the Haringey Foster Carers Association, to share her experience as a foster carer and to talk about the need for more foster carers from Black communities.
Spurring you on to care
Tottenham Hotspur’s To Care Is To Do project
In partnership with Tottenham Hotspur’s To Care Is To Do project, we are aiming to help and encourage the wider society to understand and value fostering, and the positive difference it can make to young people’s lives.
Taking a foster child on holiday
If you’re making holiday plans with your foster children, or contemplating fostering in the future and want to know whether it’s feasible to take foster children on holiday with you, here’s what you need to know about holidays with foster children.
Foster Care Fortnight 2023 - #FosteringCommunities
2023's theme was #FosteringCommunities, which seems fitting as we would like to reach out to anyone who could act as a fostering advocate by helping to distribute some 'call to foster' posters around their local community. For those happy to help, we will send out 10 posters per individual so that they can place them in any willing coffee shops, gyms/leisure centres, libraries etc.
Please email your address to us at fosteringrecruitment@haringey.gov.uk and we will get the posters out to you. Also, to note, you don't have to be a foster carer to help us with this! just able and willing to help.
What Christmas is like for a foster family
We caught up with Roshnee, the remarkable daughter of one of our amazing foster carers, to share their experience of fostering at Christmas.
What is a Fostering Panel?
We caught up with the Chair of the fostering panel, Shirley Walker, who has given us great insight into what a fostering panel is and what happens.
Why do you need a spare room to foster?
A question we get asked frequently is: do I need a spare room to be able to foster? The answer is yes.
- Find out more about why it’s so important for foster children to have their own bedroom
Celebrities Foster Care Stories
Foster carers stories
- Hear directly from our amazing foster carers and read their stories to find out more about what fostering in Haringey means.
Fostering myth-busting
We try our best to spread positive messages about fostering. However, there are still some unhelpful myths about fostering and who can foster children, so we thought it might be time for a little bit of myth-busting.
LGBTQ+ Fostering
At Haringey we are proud to have LGBTQ+ families fostering with us.
Kinship Care Week 2023
Kinship Care Week ran from 13 to 17 March and it was our chance to celebrate kinship families and raise awareness of the role of kinship carers.
- Find out more about Kinship Care Week