Lessons learned from fostering during lockdown
Andy Elvin
Monday, December 7, 2020
TACT worked with Research in Practice in the summer to try and gather some learning from life in lockdown for foster families.
The survey of our foster carers and children and young people produced some very informative results, and I want to focus on three particular areas that I think it is important to acknowledge and apply to practice:
- Schooling
The survey found that:
“Responses also raise some serious challenges to us all in how school, for many children in care, can be a source of anxiety and upset, the absence of which was welcomed (at least initially) by a number of respondents. It is important to recognise that, when things are going well, school can also be an important protective factor for children and young people in care. The issue raised is not school versus no school; rather how are schools to provide a trauma-informed setting for children to socialise and learn. There is some excellent work going on around the country to achieve this”
No-one is suggesting that schooling is bad for children, but the impact of school on some of our children is profound. Many foster carers report that a lot of evenings are spent dealing with the events of the school day. During lockdown some children showed a marked upturn in mood and behaviour and a downturn in anxiety. This is very welcome, but we have to be able to achieve this whilst children are attending school. Many schools are making great strides , in Islington for example but this needs to be in all schools. TACT is working with its Fairer Fostering Partnership colleagues to work with the schools our children attend to promote and embed trauma informed practice in school.
We cannot ignore what we have learned, we must not accept that school is a place of anxiety and upset for children and not address the problem.
- Virtual Contact
The survey found that:
“Some of the issues raised in the surveys have significant implications, in particular for the ways in which social work interactions and contact/family time8 are planned and organised. Further discussions informed by the survey findings need to foreground the rights, needs and wishes of the individual children and families we are working with. We would strongly advocate that these should take precedence over financial considerations – challenging though this is, or the preferences of individual social workers in deciding how to arrange meetings and keep in contact”
Family time arrangements that are set by social workers, or worse the courts, are inimical to children and the foster and birth families involved. We must trust those directly involved to set the practical arrangements (even if this is within an order stipulating frequency). Things change for children week to week, school activities and events come up and circumstances change for birth and foster families. We must promote and enable positive relationships between carer and birth families so they can adapt family time to everyone’s convenience. If some mediation is needed then such services must be provided. Virtual contact must play a part, we are not suggesting it replaces face to face, but it can augment it and form a blend of practice. Particular consideration should be given to utilising virtual contact to promote sibling contact where siblings live apart (obviously separating siblings is not to be encouraged but is sometimes unavoidable). Siblings can “game” together and we have seen some great examples of creative sibling contact this year. As children become older, they must be allowed to have their views respected as to how their family time is arranged.
- Settling into foster homes
The survey found that:
“Many young people and carers described how lockdown had given them more quality time to spend with families or those they live with; over 90 per cent of those in foster care reported relationships at home had improved or stayed the same during lockdown.”
At present we move children into foster homes in a whirlwind. Not only does the initial move into the home often occur suddenly, we then insist that the child immediately gets into the routine of school, activities etc. Contrast this with what happens when an adopted child moves into their adoptive family. We need to re-think the first few weeks of a child’s life in a new foster family. We are seeking to promote long - term stability, a sense of belonging and psychological permanence in their foster family, yet we barely give children time to unpack - physically or emotionally. We should consider allowing an initial period for the child to just spend quality time with their new foster family, doing everyday activities together and getting to know each other. Whilst it might necessitate missing a little schooling, we know that children who have a settled long term foster home have better educational, social and emotional health outcomes.
The lockdown has been far from easy and some children really struggled with the lack of schooling and the restrictions of lockdowns and tiers. However many were touched by one or all of the points made above and it is up to us all to heed the lessons of lockdown and make sure they are not lost as we rush to embrace the hoped for return to “normality”.
Andy Elvin is chief executive of TACT care.
