The skills to foster

The UK is facing a foster care shortage. At least 8,400 new foster families are required in 2014, according to research by the Fostering Network. Twelve per cent of foster carers are leaving the profession each year, and they have to be replaced. Moreover, local authorities need to be able to draw on foster carers who have the right skills to meet the needs of particular children, especially older children, those with disabilities and sibling groups.

Finding new families with the motivation and qualities necessary to take on these children is difficult. That is why some of those recruiting foster carers are beginning to concentrate their efforts on professionals who already work with children and young people, whether that is through children’s services, youth services, charities, healthcare or education. The thinking is that such people already have the skills and values needed to become a good foster carer, and the drive that motivated them to work with children in the first place could also push them into foster care.

Rosalyn Thornton is carer recruitment officer at Five Rivers Fostering Service. She says her organisation is increasingly targeting marketing material at those working in the children’s sector.

“We look at unqualified workers across children’s services including health and housing,” explains Thornton. “We have found they have the skills and experience to meet the needs of children and young people, and we have seen a growth in attracting these people.”

Five Rivers does not rule out qualified children’s social workers, but targets those without qualifications because their salaries are more in line with a foster carer’s remuneration. “If you are a qualified social worker, you will have to take a reduction in pay in order to foster,” says Thornton.

Carer allowances

Foster carer allowances vary from area to area and also between different types of carers. But in England and Northern Ireland, foster carers should receive at least the government’s recommended minimum for the youngest children of £119 a week, for 2014/15. Many fostering services also pay fees, but again these vary from service to service.

Thornton believes that budget cuts have created a pool of skilled workers who are no longer employed by local authorities, as well as those who fear for the stability of their current jobs. “Over the past five years, we have seen a huge pressure on local authorities to reduce their staffing, and seen lots of redundancies,” she says. “People are looking elsewhere to do the type of work they are passionate about.” Frustration with bureaucracy can also be a driving factor: “I know a lady who is working in a support capacity with families on the cusp of having their children removed – she said she wants to foster as she is so exhausted by the paperwork aspect of the role. She thinks she can make more of a difference working with one child over a period of time than with 10 children for two hours a week.”

Although people who work with children possess different skills, and at different levels, they do tend to share qualities that are helpful when it comes to fostering. “They know how to navigate the system and understand it, and are good at working in professional environments,” explains Thornton. “They are not intimidated by meetings, for example – and it can be intimidating to sit with the parent of the child, the social worker and other professionals.”

Children’s sector professionals also tend to have an understanding of boundaries, both between certain professions, and between professionals and children. They generally understand safeguarding, have good assessment skills, are computer literate and used to writing reports. They often have good support networks in place, understand the jargon and are receptive to training. “It is a challenge to keep foster carers engaged in training, but this is second nature to children’s services staff,” says Thornton.

There are also disadvantages when it comes to recruiting from this pool. “Sometimes it is difficult for them to stay in the foster carer role and not step into the social worker support role,” says Thornton. “That is something we have to manage. They may know other professionals who are working with the child or young person. You have to be mindful of your relationship in this context.”

Foster carers are allowed to continue in their day job in certain situations, especially if they have a partner involved in the foster caring or if they work flexible hours. But if their employer is a local authority, they are not allowed to foster for that authority.

Those who work long hours might also find it difficult to foster. Since local authorities are trying to recruit foster carers, the onus is on them to create foster family-friendly human resources policies to allow staff to foster if they want to.

The Fostering Network is working with some local authorities to “create robust HR policies to help and encourage staff to foster”, explains foster care recruitment and retention consultant James Foyle. “A sympathetic line manager helps. Local authorities are well placed to know the demands and expectations placed on foster carers, and give them the flexibility to combine work and foster care.” The Department for Education, for its part, has become the government’s first “foster family-friendly employer”, giving staff that foster up to 20 days paid leave to attend training or meetings relating to their role as a carer, plus additional unpaid time off to deal with unexpected research.

Values and motivations

On a broader level, the Fostering Network has also researched what motivates existing foster carers to help recruiters devise messages that work. Its researchers profiled 2,700 foster families using a system of psychographic profiling called Values Modes, which categorises individuals according to their beliefs, values and motivations. It has found that 73 per cent of foster carers could be categorised as “pioneers”, a group that is marked by confidence, and the need to do the “right thing” for their community. Only 42 per cent of the general population falls into this category.
 
A further 22 per cent of foster carers are identified as success-orientated “prospectors”, with the remaining five per cent classified as traditional, home-loving “settlers”.

Social workers, youth workers and other children’s services professionals all tend to fall into the “pioneer” category.

The DfE is funding the research and 25 local authorities will use the findings to help recruit and retain carers from the three identified groups. Different councils are taking different approaches, but some are now specifically targeting “pioneers”.

“This might include involving existing foster carers in recruitment, playing on what the pioneer audience wants, which includes face-to-face conversations,” says Foyle. Pioneer audiences also respond well to particular words such as “inspiring”. The Fostering Network has produced a toolkit to help councils communicate in language that speaks to their motivations and values. “If a person values a face-to-face conversation at the start of the fostering process, they will value it throughout the process,” says Foyle.

Gill Burtwell, fostering service manager at Wiltshire Council, is working with the Fostering Network. She says: “The Values Modes theory has provided us with a better understanding of what motivates foster carers, and how making small changes to our recruitment messages and processes based on this information can make a real difference to how we work with them. For instance, the information that foster carers are the type of people who respond to ‘conversations’ has prompted us to use more information sessions, and for people interested in fostering to talk face-to-face, particularly to other foster carers,” she adds. “Also, if we know what motivates carers, it means we can provide a more effective support service, which in turn means they continue as foster carers.”


The youth worker-turned foster carer

Youth sector professional Linda Jack recently became a foster carer. She believes her experience has helped in her new role, particularly since the children who have stayed with her have so far all been teenagers. “My background has made me more aware of boundaries and expectations,” she says.

One of Jack’s motivations to move into fostering was her concern that young people in care are being failed. Of course, there are differences between foster caring and youth work: “When you are a youth worker, you work in a club or on the streets, and you finish at 10pm, go home and shut the door,” she says. “When you are a foster carer, you don’t get to shut your bedroom door. In fact, the conversations in the middle of the night are often the most important ones. How you relate to young people, understanding their issues and needs, is different as a foster carer – it is more of a parental relationship.”

Jack believes youth workers are in a position to give a lot to the fostering sector. “Youth services have been decimated, so there might be a lot of youth workers out there who could be helpful,” she says. But she warns that, like youth work, foster care can be an underappreciated sector. “We used to say the youth service was the Cinderella service, but I’ve discovered that foster carers are also a Cinderella service – they are often seen as the lowest of the low with little appreciation of how it affects every aspect of your life.”

However, Jack believes councils need to learn more about targeting potential foster carers in the youth sector. “We have had a good experience in terms of meeting with social workers, and assessments. But some of the people they send to do assessments and evaluations have not got an understanding of what youth workers may bring to engage with teenagers in particular,” she says.  

“I recommended a friend who is a youth worker and she was treated abysmally,” she says. Social workers and fostering agencies could do with more of an understanding of what youth work is all about. If a social worker wants to foster, they probably have a good idea what they can bring, but there isn’t always that appreciation of the expertise of a youth worker.”