Leading fostering charity, the Fostering Network has been awarded a grant of £17,000 from The Roald Dahl Foundation to support a project aimed at improving the literacy levels of children in foster care.
Research demonstrates that educational outcomes for children in foster care are poor in comparison to their peers, however children who engage with books and reading outside school often perform better. The Telling My Story project aims to encourage foster carers to read with their children helping to develop vocabulary and speaking and listening skills. The process also provides a valuable opportunity for foster carers to bond and spend quality time with the children in their care.
Telling My Story will hold five storytelling events across the UK, providing foster carers, fostered children and sons and daughters of foster carers the chance to talk to a children's author, get involved in storytelling workshops and gain skills in teaching or learning to read.
The project will also reach a wider audience with a storytelling competition judged by Jacqueline Wilson, author of the Tracy Beaker books.
Ena Fry, development worker, the Fostering Network said: “Many children in foster care do not have the books they need or the opportunity to enjoy reading with adults. Telling My Story aims to change this. Through a series of UK wide events and a storytelling competition we will encourage foster carers to use story telling as a fun way of supporting literacy, developing family relationships and letting children share their emotions and tell their own stories."
The Fostering Network hope the project will lead to the establishment of a discounted bookselling scheme for foster carers and a fact sheet on reading, literature and storytelling will be produced.
Find out more about the Storytelling project and the Jacqueline Wilson storytelling competition.
Notes for editors
The Fostering Network is the UK’s leading charity for all those involved in fostering, and exists to ensure that all fostered children receive the highest standards of care.
For media enquiries contact the Fostering Network on 020 7620 6441/16.
For further information about the storytelling events and competition contact ena.fry@fostering.net