Member News: Team Fostering - Could you foster a teenager in need of a safe and loving home?

​Teenagers are the largest growing cohort in foster care, and in recent BBC documentary Teens in Care, presenter Joe Swash, explored the stories of the increasing numbers of teenagers across the UK who live in residential care, with foster families or who have entered independence living at just 18. 

At Team Fostering, we see a range of children referred to us for a loving home, and this regularly includes teenage children. In 2015, research showed that 2 in 5 of fostered teenagers were already living with their 3rd fostering family, and 5% living with their 10th family in care.

Moving from home to home can have a negative impact on the wellbeing of young people, lowering consistency and the likelihood that they will have a strong sense of being at home - a problem which has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

At Team Fostering we recruit a diverse range of foster carers, needed to look after children and young people of different ages and of different backgrounds. We have a renowned matching service, with our Placements Teams working hard to ensure that there is a strong match between a young person and a fostering family before speaking to the family about taking in the child. Matching young people, including teenagers, with a family that has the right skills to meet their needs will be of huge benefit, increasing the chances of the young person building relationships with the family through positive experiences.

Teenagers in foster care have similar needs to children who live at home; loving, stable surroundings and support from a parental figure. They need people who have patience, kindness and humour helps too. Support for young people at this stage in their life is crucial, and as a foster carer you can feel rewarded for having such a positive impact on their lives.

You can watch the Teens in Care programme on BBC iPlayer here. 

Team Fostering is a not-for-profit fostering agency covering the North East, Yorkshire and East Midlands. To learn more about fostering teenagers with Team Fostering, and to learn more about the training, fees and support you'd receive, you can reach us in the following ways:

Call us on 0800 292 2003
Email us via [email protected]
Submit an online enquiry form by clicking here

Source:
www.teamfostering.co.uk

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