Fostering and my family
Fostering can be a wonderful and rewarding experience for the whole family.
Action for Children Fostering recognises that fostering has a significant impact on all household members and the wider family and friends’ network.
Everyone in a fostering household needs to be committed to fostering.
We understand the vital role that children in the household of foster carers can play in the success of fostering. It’s important to think early on how fostering might impact on your own children and to look at the positives it can bring to your family.
We’ll be there for you and all your family members to offer advice and provide support shaped around you and your family whenever you need us, 24/7 year-round.
Fostering will have a huge impact on any existing children in the household.
Action for Children Fostering provides tailored support to the whole fostering family and engages the existing children at the very start of the fostering process. Why not read our blog post: Celebrating children of foster carers?
Fostering a child when there are other children in the household can be hugely beneficial to the foster child.
It provides them with other young people to engage with and could give them a friend for life.
Perhaps they needed to be placed away from their siblings, in which case having other young people in the household can be both therapeutic and a positive distraction. It could also simply be that they have someone closer to their own age that they can talk to, play, or hang out, with and learn from.
Seeing how another young person behaves and interacts with adults on a day-to-day basis can help develop a foster child’s social skills and have a positive influence on them.
It will probably take a few months of adjustment for the whole family. Having a vulnerable child or young person in your care means sharing your family home with them.
Any child/children living in the household will have to learn to share their space, toys and also share your time with the new foster child. This may be difficult for them at first but we’ll provide you with techniques and suggestions on how best to manage this, so that all children in your household feel equal. Find out more about our training and support.
Benefits to young people in the household
Foster carers do an amazing job.
Bringing a vulnerable child into your home with children already living there does require an extra level of consideration to make sure that what you're doing works for the whole family.
Some simple ways of bringing your existing children on the fostering journey with you include:
Chat with your local team
We have offices across the UK in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Contact someone local to you by text, WhatsApp, email or phone. Whatever works best for you.
Your local team