What role does a foster carer play?

Foster carers play an important role in the lives of the children and young people they care for over the years. They provide a safe, loving and stable home.

There are different types of fostering, which would see you as a foster carer play a different role these include short-term fostering, long-term fostering, short-break or respite fostering, specialist fostering and parent and baby placements.

The role that a foster carer plays also varies based on the needs of the child. In a previous blog post Dawn and Roger spoke about how they’ve helped to guide their foster child in different areas from education to dealing with emotions and feeling more settled. This has resulted in their foster child excelling at school and doing out of school activities.

Our specialist foster carers in Essex look after teenagers with complex needs and a part of their role includes preparing a young person for independence. This means doing a variety of activities with a foster child from teaching them about budgetting to make sure they know how to take care of their own health and other important life skills that are going to help them with education or employment.

In a previous blog post St Christopher's foster carer Doreen talks about the role she has played in helping a young person to move on and the role she continued to play in his life.

In one of our fostering video (from 30 seconds), a St Christopher’s carer talks about how her role as a foster carer has seen her working with her foster child to work through the grief of losing her mum.

Being a foster carer often means fighting for the needs of the child you are looking after, which is exactly what Connie did when she got a private tutor for her foster child to make sure that he learnt how to read.

To find out more about fostering with St Christopher’s please visit our website.