News

Autumn 2005

Indoor Barbeque!

It looked like everyone had a fun time at the BBQ going by the pictures taken by our very able photographer Andrew - the staff certainly did! Sarah is now very skilled at Connect Four and will be gaining her certificate any day now.
The Giant Jenga was a big hit and proved very versatile - turning into ice skates for the younger children!

We hope it gave foster carers who have been through the assessment process, and approved by the Panel, an opportunity to share their experiences with newer carers.

Memory Boxes

At South West Placements, Plymouth office, we have decided to design a memory box for each foster child coming into our care. To some it may simply look like a cardboard box containing pens, a photo album, a diary and a camera but it does serve a greater purpose.

Children coming into foster care will have undoubtedly suffered some sense of separation and loss and may very well have come from families who have become fragmented. As a result important family history and childhood memories can be lost forever. This often results in children finding it difficult to adjust in later life, especially during their identity-forming and adult years.

Memory boxes can help children build an identity, hold onto their family history and understand the past in order to be less afraid of the future.

Our memory boxes are designed so the child or young person can decorate themselves, so they know these boxes are their own personal item and they can put in what ever they want. They also show the child that their past is important and so is their future.

The memory box may also help a new foster child build a relationship with their foster family by the family members helping the child to decorate the box. Only if they want this help of course!)

Sarah Ankers, Social Worker, Plymouth

The Male Carers Support Group

Monday 5th September 2005, 7:15 pm, marked the first meeting of the Male Carers Support Group with Southwest Placements in Devon, (I don’t know if there are any similar groups in other areas, perhaps we are starting a trend).

The meeting was organised by Mark Breeze (Social Worker in the Okehampton office) and, naturally enough, took place in Okehampton, in a private room at the White Hart Hotel.

Six carers and Mark turned up for the evening, and as with all of these occasions, all the conversation and comments have to remain private. Five of the carers were from the Okehampton area, and I drove down from Barnstaple.

However, as I commented at the start, this is the first of this kind of meeting I have attended, and as a foster carer with a number of years experience, I was pleased and gratified to hear others talking about experiences and concerns that closely matched my own. I am not alone.

Although the meeting creaked a little at the start, conversation soon became much easier, and by the time the sandwiches and chips arrived we had all become much more relaxed.

As there was no fixed agenda, the talk revolved around experiences with children in care, both currently and in the past. These exposed problems ranging from the ordinary to the very difficult, and also what I thought were some stunning success stories. In short all the things you hear about on the training courses, but with real flesh on the bone.

I felt the evening was well worth attending. So, if you are a male carer, and you sometimes feel you are backed into a corner (this is only to do with foster care you understand, your private life is your own) and you would like to talk about the issues, come along to the next meeting. Mark should be arranging another sometime in November.

Best Regards to you all

John

Forthcoming Events:

3rd December—Christmas Party for Plymouth, Okehampton & Ilfracombe carers—at the Okment Centre, Okehampton.

16th December—Aladdin & the Enchanted Lamp pantomime for Avening carers—at the Bristol Old Vic.