This year we repeated the very successful Summer Event of 2010 at the Wells-Springs Leisure Centre.

The Wells-Springs venue offers both indoor and outdoor facilities for activities so there is something for all.

This year the Bouncy Castle was much larger where the youngers could quite easily hide in various compartments of the castle. Also inside was a trampotine with instructors available to offer support for those who wanted to try out their back flips.

Also inside there was a miniature remote control helicopter which captured the imagination of the adults as well as the children and young people who seemed to master control of the helicopter far easier than the adults.. I wonder why!

Our staff organised outdoor activities with cricket which proved to be quite competitive as players become used to the bowling which rarely found its way to the stumps.

Foster carers brought a vast amount of food which was very welcome after dashing around the leisure centre, many thanks.

For a second year Regional Foster Placements are holding their fantastic Bushcraft Event, where young people over the age of 12 will have a unique opportunity to camp in the woods for 4 nights  in their own bivouac that they have built using natural materials.

A clay oven will be built so that bread and pizza’s can be cooked and eaten while musicians have been organised to provide music at the evening camp fires.

The Bushcraft campsite is in woodland in Devon, where company staff and foster carers will assist qualified bushcraft  trainers. Many activities will be taking place including:

• Wood scavenging
• Demonstration and practical sessions;
• knives, saws, axes.
• Games
• Team building tasks
• Camouflage & Concealment
• Laser Quest games
• Wait for it…………….cooking and washing up!

We will be highlighting activities in our next Newsletter.

Why not spend an informal hour with our team to find out more about fostering.

Regional Foster Placements are organising regular open days and evenings throughout the year at various locations. If you would like to know more about fostering, you are invited to attend, where you will be able to meet social care workers who will be able to answer your specific questions and discuss this rewarding profession.

Click here for latest information on Open days dates and venues

You can register for one of our Open Days or Evenings by clicking here.

We are committed to the development of our carers, recognising the professional role which they have within the childcare service. We also recognise that our foster carers have varied areas of interest and expertise, thus it is our intention to enable our carers to develop further their skills through a variety of learning experiences.

It is recognised that each person has a preferred style to learning, thus Regional Foster Placements provides a variety of approaches when considering how to present training. These include: workshops, conferences, 1-1 sessions, online courses and guest speakers / informal discussions at support groups. All our carers have a Professional Development Portfolio and training needs are discussed and agreed through formal supervision.

You can find out more information on our training here or you can contact us here.

Now this was really something different with the company going right out on a limb.

At Hatherliegh Community Centre dark clouds were gathering high in the midday sky and words of “oh no it’s going to rain” and “it looks like the BBC weather forecast is actually right for once” were forming on my mind. Other thoughts included “this is not good” and “please don’t let me be wet for three days!”

When the convoy arrived at the forest called “475,093” Ancient forest gods were looking down on the mighty Outdoor Adventurers. One of the forest gods granted the wish of dry weather for three days to ease their quest (quiet prayer of thanks was given.)

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Carers, staff, foster children and birth children from the north area all piled in to their vehicles and headed off for the day.

We met at the gates at 10.30, looking forward to a day of watching animal behaviours. Some may say why go all the way to Longleat for that, there’s plenty of that going on at Head Office!!!! Although raining our spirits were not dampened.

What to do first? Obviously a trip round the safari park. As usual the lions were ‘lazy’, the tigers ‘timid’, the wolves ‘wolfish’, the llamas ‘languid’ and the monkeys ‘mischievous’; jumping on cars and dismantling essential items from the bodywork. Not the best place to open windows in order to get a good picture, one would think. However Stacey B was in her ‘Annie Leibovitz’ mood, not sure whether the instruction to “say cheese” was understood by the rhinos though!! All safely got through, though a head count had to be taken on exiting to ensure that we hadn’t picked up any new placements!

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