Fostering - How we can support you

Fostering - How we can support you

We offer support, advice and guidance on issues ranging from building trust to dealing with challenging behaviour

Biri Yaya

“Fostering is hard work,” says Hammersmith & Fulham Council social work manager, Biri Yaya. “But everyone that does it loves it and says it’s definitely worth doing!” he adds with a beaming smile.

Biri has 17 years’ experience in social care and has spent the last 13 of those working in the borough. Sharply dressed, with a booming laugh, he doesn’t necessarily fit the stereotype many people have conjured up of social workers. “It’s funny, when I meet people they always say to me, ‘but you wear a suit and you smile all the time - you can’t be a social worker!’ That makes me laugh!”

But Biri’s job is no laughing matter - every week he and his team of six social workers, three psychological therapists and others within the service have between six and eight requests to find foster homes for children from the borough. There are currently 70 foster carers split into three fostering teams, with another 14 people going through the assessment process. But it’s still not enough. Hammersmith & Fulham needs at least 20 new carers every year.

Biri said: “The children’s needs are so comprehensive that foster carers are expected to be able to handle everything. We’re no longer talking about the basics of just having a safe place - they need more.
Support and training is crucial and H&F makes sure that foster carers have a strong network of support from the start and all the way through.

Recent figures show that there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of children moving around within the care system. Over the last five years children being placed in three or more separate carers has dropped from 14.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent - well below the national average of 10.7 per cent. This, says Biri, is in part down to the support the fostering service offers. “Our carers cope well when they have support around them and the children also thrive when they are surrounded by stability.”

Mark Chidgey

Mark Chidgey and Helen Mahaffey from the psychological therapies team deal on a daily basis with social workers, foster carers, their families and the children they care for. They offer support, advice and guidance on issues ranging from building trust to dealing with challenging behaviour.

From the very start, we work closely the children and their birth families, helping our social workers to find out what the child’s needs are and where they should be placed, ” explains Mark, who has been working in the borough for the last two years with the council and the child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs).

“We don’t do therapy as such - we have conversations and take it to a deeper level; look at their fears, likes and dislikes. We provide training and work directly with foster carers, both in workshops and on a one-to-one basis. We go out to see them if they need some advice and we’re on the end of the phone if people need to speak to us about any dilemmas or issues they have.”

Helen Mahaffey

Helen, who joined the team in 2006, says: “We look at people’s strengths and build on relationships that are already there. Very often people say ‘oh, I can’t do that’ but we focus on the positives - on all the things they can do, which they do really well.

“Our foster carers have skills that come naturally to a lot of people but being a carer is more than instinct - it’s a highly skilled job. It isn’t just about carrying out the basics like cooking or cleaning it’s providing emotional support, consistency, setting boundaries and giving praise.

“You see people really growing in this job. You see them grow in confidence and their self-esteem just completely soars. We also make sure that they take some time to relax because sometimes they forget that they need to be looked after as well!”