Fostering News | December update

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December has arrived in what will undoubtedly be a very different festive period for everyone this year, however we have a bumper edition of Fostering News for you, including the annual Role of Honour for our carers who have met big anniversary milestones this year, a message from our fostering service manager and an update on the success of this year's recruitment activity. Happy reading 😊.

🎉 Role of Honour 2020 🎉

10 years' service

Pat and Alan Raper – North team

Fran and Richard Carr – North team

Russell and Ruth Holland – North team

Lisa and Mark Creasy – South team

Helen and Patrick Palmer – South team

Lin Whitehurst – South team

Jacqueline Robson – Family and Friends team

Violet and Tony Broughton – Central team

Jane Irwin – Short Breaks

Jacqueline and David Fisher – Short Breaks

Jackie Brooks – Fostering Futures

 

15 years’ service

Lee and Kirsty Broughton – North team

Sara and Paul Edlington – North team

Jane and Simon Smith – South team

Pam and Stuart Whitehead – Central team

Eileen and John Birch – Central team

Anthony and Zelda Machin – Central team

Jane Williams – Short Breaks

Angela Loughrey – Short Breaks

20 years’ service

Gill and John Thomson – South team

Laura and Mick Redfern – South team

Lorraine and Pete Chappell – South team

Susan Williams – Short Breaks

 

25 years’ service

Jane and Christopher Simpson – Central team

Gina and Alastair Morton – Central team

Terry and Eric Hardy – Central team

 

45 years’ service

Jan Reeves  – Central team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foster carers' survey 📋

Survey

If you haven't already, please take the time to fill out our survey for foster carers by this Sunday, 6 December.

As a thank you, everyone who completes the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Love2Shop voucher, which will be sent to the winner on Monday 7 December!

By completing this survey you’re helping us to meet your needs as a foster carer and to find more people who could foster children across Nottinghamshire.

Complete the survey

 

Therapeutic Foster Care in Focus

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A message from Melissa Blockley, DDP Practitioner and Social Work Practice Consultant (Therapeutic):

Polyvagal theory and how it relates to social cues:

‘We are wired for connection and, in order to help us survive, our bodies are designed and prepared for observing, processing, and responding to our environment’

I came across this article (link below) and I thought it would be good to share with our fostering community. I’ve been referring to the Polyvagal theory in my work with foster carers and their looked after children and young people. This is a theory developed by Stephen Porges who explains the 3 different parts of our nervous system and their responses to stressful situations. It is essential in our understanding of trauma. We all still find ourselves in uncertain and scary times and I’ve found this a really good theory which helps us to start thinking about our own responses to our current environment. This theory is considered as part of the resilience training available for all foster carers, which has been rolled out throughout the year.

Read the article

 

Are you one of our Christian carers?

Prayer

Some of our fantastic Christian foster carers have started a Facebook group and welcome existing and potential foster carers to join. This is a safe place to request prayers and share information with one another. If you would like to be a part of this online community then please follow the link to request to join.

Join Facebook group

My Learning My Career

Introduction to PACE - A course for Foster Parents, Adopters and Other Professionals who wish to understand the difference between 'standard' parenting and 'therapeutic' parenting. This course is essential for anyone wishing to progress to other courses relating to P.A.C.E, Attachment, and Effects of Trauma.

This event is mandatory for newly approved foster carers as part of their first year training journey and is a pre-requisite to all foster carers accessing “promoting resilience and recovery through therapeutic relationships” as part of their two year learning journey.

This will be on Wednesday 9 December 2020 from 10am-12pm via Zoom*

*Please note: those who were previously booked on for 9 December will need to rebook their places, we apologise for any inconvenience!

Unfortunately, the 14 January and 12 March dates have had to be cancelled. If you were booked onto either of those dates you will be automatically transferred onto the 9 December date.

Book your place now

 

Look out for Assisting and Moving additional training dates for 2021 to be added soon:

  • 25 January – Refresher - Short Breaks carers only
  • 10 and 11 February – 2 day course, Short breaks only
  • 22 February – Mainstream foster carers
  • 11 March – Refresher 2 day course, Short breaks only

NCC Early Childhood Services – Health on the Shelf

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The Children’s Centre Service’s Health Promotions work group has devised a creative and fun way to get lots of health messages out to families during December, using the ever popular but sometimes naughty Elf on the Shelf. Each day in the run up to Christmas, the cheeky little elf gets himself into also sorts of mischief, but the Children’s Centre Service team helpfully point him in the right direction to sort out his problems.

Covering issues such as alcohol misuse, debt, healthy eating and home safety these posts are an innovative and accessible way of promoting important public health messages launched on 1 December with a Covid-linked post reminding people of the Hands, Face, Space message during the Festive Season.

Take a look at your local district site:

Ashfield

Bassetlaw

Broxtowe

Gedling

Mansfield

Newark and Sherwood

Rushcliffe

 

Top Tips for Carers with Under Fives

We know that lots of parents and carers have found the pandemic to be a challenging time, so to make life a little easier, we’ve been putting lots of information  on Notts Help Yourself, under the Parent/Carer Zone section.

Topics such as behaviour management, sleep routines, child development, school readiness, healthy lifestyles and fun activities to do at home together are all covered.

Why not take a look at:

Notts Help Yourself website   or    Follow the FIS on Facebook  

 

Independent support and advice for foster carers

Nottinghamshire County Council secures membership with The Fostering Network for all of our foster carers. This includes access to an Advice and Mediation Worker called Caron Heath, who offers Independent and confidential information, support and advice should you need it. Caron can be contacted on 0133 295 9980. Please save this document which contains her full contact details and the range of advice and information she can assist with.

A Positive Year for Recruitment

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As strange and scary as 2020 has been for all of us, we can share with you the good news that we have had a positive year when it comes to finding foster carers. The Fostering Recruitment and Assessment team has been up and running for a little over a year now and in that time it has grown in size as the demand for initial visits and assessments has increased. We now have five full time supervising social workers to conduct visits and it is predicted that in this current financial year we may approve as many as 47 new fostering households. This is a real boost to the service and means better matching options for both carers and children, and more support available for our existing carers who access support care. We would like to offer a very warm welcome to all of our new carers and hope that it won't be too long before we are able to hold our next foster carer conference so that we can meet you all in person! Until then, we wish you and your families a merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year!

Thank you all!

A message of thanks from Ty Yousaf, Fostering Service Manager and Sophie Eadsforth, Group Manager:

"We hope this newsletter finds you well. We wanted to take this opportunity to say a massive ‘thank you’ to all of you for the truly remarkable care you provide and tasks you undertake in providing care and support to our looked after children and young people. Again, thank you!

"It is without doubt a truly extraordinary and challenging year, that none of us could have predicted. The fact that lockdown meant we have had to make major adjustments to our daily lives and additional pressures it has caused only demonstrate how resilient you all are. We are aware that a number of you have stepped in to provide placements for children on an emergency basis as there has been a big increase in the number of placements needed since the first lockdown period. We are so grateful to you for being foster carers for Nottinghamshire County Council.

"We have heard some very heartening stories of the support provided to children and young people in your care. It has been a pleasure to hear how creative you have been too in efforts to rouse the spirits of the children and young people in your care during the lockdown period and continue to do so.

"Despite lockdown, the fostering service has adapted to providing support by virtual meetings and keeping in contact with you using WhatsApp. We have used risk assessments prior to undertaking home visits to help ensure your safety and for staff and continue to do so. We are particularly delighted to have trained our staff in therapeutic relationship and strengths-based practice approaches and are in the process of rolling out the training to our foster carers, as we develop as a therapeutic fostering service.

"We would like to wish you all a merry and peaceful festive period, and a happy New Year."

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