What 'Fostering Communities' means to me - Daisy Doo*

Foster Care Fortnight is here! This year’s theme is #FosteringCommunities. Calon Cymru foster carer Daisy Doo* talks about what that means to her.

Hi all,

I have been thinking a lot about the phrase ‘it takes a village to raise a child’.  I am sure some of you have heard that phrase.  I often reflect on the fostering community that my family and I have been part of for the last thirteen years. 

When I was a child, my parent’s friends were ‘aunts and uncles’ to me, courtesy aunts, and uncles my parents happily informed me.  Friends, that had become like family and who you could turn to in a crisis.  When you become a foster carer, it must be a whole family decision, discussions with your nearest and dearest to reassure them that all will be good, and you are safe and ‘know what you are doing’.  Some carers don’t have big families and don’t have sitters or respite with family members.  Well fear not, at Calon Cymru all of the staff have your back. 

The fostering community is soooo big.  You have your supervising social worker, the child’s social worker, admin staff, management, local authority, local authority support workers, Calon Cymru support workers, Studio III (psychology support) and of course, all the other foster carers in your region.

You will have regular support meetings in your area where you get to know the carers near you and when you start your journey with Calon Cymru, you will be allocated a mentor who can help and support you through your fostering journey. 

A true fostering community with regular social gatherings, someone to call if you need a break, someone to call if you fancy a coffee and a chat, someone to call if you just want to let off steam and have a rant. 

Of course, your fortnightly supervision is a good chance to catch up with your supervising social worker, just like a family member or friend dropping by for a chat to see how you are.  The children we care for are included too with regular days out during school holidays, all paid for by Calon Cymru. They are always a huge community get together, BBQ’s days out, theatre visits, cinema, bowling, the list goes on.

So, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’… a fostering community is that village.

Take care, have a fab Foster Care Fortnight,  contact one of the lovely staff to become part of our community!

Daisy Doo and Julian too xx

* Name changed to protect the identity of the foster carer, the children and young people in their care