Supporting a Grieving Foster Child: What Actually Helps
Grief in a fostering home rarely arrives when you expect it, or in the shape you expect. Here is what actually helps a bereaved child, what the five stages of grief get wrong, and who you can ring for free when you need more than a kind word.
Supporting a Foster Child’s Mental Health: What Actually Helps
Around four in ten children in care score in the range the Department for Education calls a cause for concern. A practical guide to what actually helps at home, and how to get professional support when a child needs more.
When a Foster Child’s Behaviour Is Hard to Handle: What Actually Helps
Behaviour is what most people worry about before they enquire about fostering. Here is what actually helps: staying calm in the moment, the quiet work you do beforehand, what a fair consequence looks like, and where the legal lines sit.
Fostering an Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Child: What It Really Involves
Unaccompanied children now make up around 16 per cent of looked-after children in London boroughs, and they usually arrive at a few hours’ notice. Here is what fostering one actually involves: the first 72 hours, language and school, health, faith and food, your part in the asylum process, and what GLF pays.
Fostering a Teenager: What It’s Really Like
More than a quarter of children in care in England are sixteen or over, yet hardly anyone rings up asking to foster a teenager. Here is what the role actually involves, what changes at eighteen, and why plenty of carers find it suits them better than they expected.
Continuing Care Explained: What It Means for Foster Carers in England
“Continuing care” means two different things depending on where you are in the UK, and carers get caught out by it all the time. Here is what it means in England, how the NHS assessment works, and what happens when a young person turns 18.
Fostering a Child With a Disability or Additional Needs
Most carers who look after a child with a disability began with no clinical background at all. Here is what the day-to-day really involves, who else is on the team around the child, and what Greater London Fostering pays.
Fostering a Child From a Different Cultural Background
Roughly one child in four in care in England comes from a minority ethnic background, and in London the mix is wider still. Here is what the law asks of foster carers, the practical detail on food, faith, hair and skin, and how to respond when a child meets racism.
Preparing a Foster Child for Independence: A Practical Guide for Carers
Getting a young person ready to leave care is the part of fostering carers say they felt least prepared for. Here is what the leaving care system in England sets up and when, what money a care leaver is actually entitled to, and the everyday things that make the biggest difference.
Helping a Foster Child Through a Move: What Transitions Really Involve
Moves are the part of fostering carers ask about most. An honest look at what happens when a child arrives, what to protect when they move on, and the support GLF puts around you at both ends.