It’s the difference that makes the difference

In 2015 there were a group of people who got together and decided that they wanted to create a fostering service that was different and to some extent unique, later to become known as New Chapters Fostercare.  Nice idea you might think and one that has almost certainly been had by other people.  The problem with good intentions is that they all too easily become swamped by the everyday demands that make us reactive rather than proactive.  Being different required a strong determination to keep to what one of our core members said at the outset of our development, “we do what it says on the tin” (acknowledgement to Ronseal wood stain).

So what did we want to put on our tin?  “Family feel” was high on our agenda. Nothing special there you may think, given that many Independent Fostering Agencies (IFA’s) use that kind of language in their marketing material.  But isn’t fostering all about helping a child be part of a safe family environment anyway I hear you ask?  The difference we wanted to make though was to help a child feel part of both the immediate family who fostered them and the wider New Chapters family.

There was a wide recognition that if we really wanted an agencywide family feel then we needed something that all the adults, irrespective of their role within the agency, had to sign up to.  Solution Focused Therapy was chosen as the approach and narrative that we wanted everyone to become familiar with and use in their interactions with all the children we look after.  No single approach is ever sufficient to deal with every situation or person but a commitment to one underpinning model is proving beneficial in our communication with each other, the children we look after and other professionals we engage with.

Being different also means never being satisfied with “good enough”.  We needed an aspiration that would embed our desire to be different.  The label on the tin needed a third ingredient that ensured we remained child centred in our practice.  “Child centred” is a term used extensively in almost every fostering and residential service and is supposed to be reflective of the principles enshrined in the Children Act 1989.  Sadly all too often the reality is that resource led factors undermine this important principle.  The third ingredient on the tin was “one stop shop”, a model that one of our core members felt from the outset was so important to ensure that we could really put the child at the centre of all we do.

Family feel shouldn’t just be a comforting phrase that sounds and looks good in marketing material and the agency’s statement of purpose.  Maslow created a model identifying stages of child development and one of those stages was helping a child to acquire a “sense of belonging”.  A sense of belonging is so much more than being in a safe and secure environment.  It’s about knowing and feeling that you are wanted.

The title of this blog is “It’s the difference that makes the difference”.  Principles and practice should run hand in hand but all too often they don’t.  Being well meaning is not enough.  What is needed is an absolute commitment to stick to the values, beliefs and aspirations that we know will make the difference that matters.  Our success will be determined by our ability to consistently do what it says on our tin.  Once a local authority has decided that New Chapters is the right shop for a child who needs a family placement then we will do everything we can to ensure they will not need to go shopping elsewhere.

Watch out for future blogs where we will tell you more about the difference we are and will be making to vulnerable children’s lives.