We produce a number of posts every month about the importance of keeping siblings together in care, and stressing that without more foster carers coming forward, siblings will be separated. Imagine the nightmare scenario of first losing your parents and then having the rest of your family disappear too. Yet in 2019 this happens daily to the children who, as a nation, we have the privilege to parent. This is a complex issue where occasionally, there will be legitimate reasons why children can’t be kept together, such as safeguarding reasons, but this isn’t always the case.

For many children, there is nothing more important than the love of whatever family remains. It’s a sad fact that they risk being split up as every year tens of thousands of children (including brothers and sisters) across the UK need foster carers while they can’t live with their own families. However, some foster carers unfortunately don’t have the room to accommodate sibling groups, where each child does require a spare room of their own.

Like other jobs working with children, fostering isn’t easy, but it is certainly very rewarding and makes a huge difference to these children’s lives. Working from home, it’s possible to combine fostering with caring for your own children or to combine fostering with other work, depending on the age and needs of the children in your care. There are many different types of fostering and each foster carer chooses what is right for them and their family. In addition to practical support, all foster carers receive an allowance to cover the cost of looking after a fostered child. Throughout their fostering career, foster carers can take advantage of continued professional development too.

A wider pool of foster carers is needed right across the UK, so children can live with a family in their local area wherever possible. It’s important that children live with families that are a good “match” for them in terms of location, culture, lifestyle, language, and interests. More foster carers are currently needed to offer homes to teenagers, disabled children and, of course, those sibling groups we were talking about at the beginning of this blog. So, if you have room at home and in your heart to foster sibling groups, please get in touch today.