As an Independent Fostering Agency, we often look to The Fostering Network, the UK’s leading fostering charity, to offer the essential networking opportunities of bringing together not only the people who foster, but everyone involved in the lives of fostered children. They, like us, champion fostering. They also seek to create the changes necessary so that foster care becomes the very best it can be.

One of the many initiatives that The Fostering Network work on, in addition to Foster Care Fortnight, is Sons and Daughters Month. This runs every October and celebrates the vital contribution that the children of foster carers make to foster care. They also run a competition during the month for all young people living in fostering households and this year their theme was #FosteringTeachesYou.

The sons and daughters of foster carers play an essential role in welcoming fostered children into their families and ensuring successful fostering placements. Many people thinking about fostering are concerned about the potential impact on their own children, and this can act as a barrier to becoming a foster carer. The reality sometimes is that sons and daughters benefit hugely from being part of the support network offered by a fostering family to a fostered child. Seeing life from another’s perspective can be an enriching experience and can help a child learn and develop as an individual. There are many skills and lessons that can be learned from growing up in a fostering household. This year’s Sons and Daughters Month highlighted this aspect of fostering and shared the views of sons and daughters about what #FosteringTeachesYou.

If you’d like to know more about how the campaign ran, click here.