Everyone can appreciate that bringing up children is not the easiest task in the world! Even the most well adjusted children are prone to moods and outbursts of temper! Imagine coming from an extremely dysfunctional and often highly abusive background and then being separated from your family and placed either in a Children’s Home or with a family of strangers. This is the experience of thousands of foster children throughout the UK who find themselves in the care system and in desperate need of a safe and secure home in which they can begin their journey toward adulthood.

Their life experiences combined with this level of upheaval can contribute to some displays of challenging and sometimes aggressive behaviours and this leads people to view, unfairly, all foster children as extremely challenging. Whilst there are definitely some foster children who display high levels of challenging behaviour, the vast majority of children settle well into their foster placements and go on to achieve a great deal with the support of their foster families.

An interesting article appears on the BBC website this week which seeks to challenge the negative view many people hold of fostered children. Despite a difficult background and spending most of her life in care Christina Lester became head girl of her High School and was one of only 20 children to complete a six month long UK wide mentoring scheme organised by education charity AQA and the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust. Christina believes this scheme has given her confidence and she has put this to good use making a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNAr2X0a9yo) which challenges the perceptions of young people in foster care.
It’s great to hear a young person speaking out about the positive influence fostering has had on their lives. You can read the whole article at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24646233

If you are interested in becoming a foster carer then our FAQ section should provide you with plenty of food for thought.