Fostering Connections: Strengthening Friendships with Adventures

Each school holiday we like to arrange a fun activity for our young people, giving them an opportunity to spend time socialising with other foster children. This allows them to build relationships and feel like a valued part of our Calon family.

Over the Easter holidays, some of our young people got together to head out on the river for a day of adventure, canoeing and kayaking with Llandysul Paddlers.

One of our young people, 14 year old Sophie*, told us all about her experience of the day and how much she enjoyed it.

‘When I went to the Paddlers, I really enjoyed it. It was a good experience, the people were nice, the staff were lovely, they had a good laugh with us. They made it fun for us. It was spectacular. I would happily go again because I had so much fun, I met nice people, the staff were lovely. I would go again.’

Placements Support Officers, Louisa and Gaynor make sure to arrange all kinds of fun activities to suit and engage the young people, from bowling to cookery school, days out and adventure activities. The children and young people have a fantastic relationship with Louisa and Gaynor and love spending time with them, chatting about their lives and having the chance to be unapologetically themselves.

Speaking of the day out and why it is important, Placements Support Officer, Louisa said,

‘Everyone had a super fun day at Paddlers Canoe and Activity Centre, our Children and Young People enjoyed paddle boarding, canoeing and participating in lots of fun and games in the water.

The purpose of our activity days is to bring our Children and Young People together to enjoy different experiences. Children and Young People gain confidence and team building skills in a fun environment, they can interact with children of all ages and most importantly they are able to share experiences and build positive memories.

It is wonderful to see that even if the Children and Young People don't see each other in between activities when they come together they are excited to catch up with each other, almost as if they are family, they unconditionally accept one another and special bonds are formed.’

We love to see the Children and Young People interacting with each other and having positive experiences with other Children and Young People. In this environment they don’t have to be anything but themselves, they can relax, let go and simply enjoy being young and spending time with their friends.

We can’t wait to see what fantastic activities they get up to throughout the coming year and hopefully, in the future, we may see some of our Children and Young People taking what they have accomplished on these activity days to become the very best versions of themselves. Let’s hope they remember us when they are chefs, artists, or maybe even Olympians.

*Name changed to protect the identity of the child