sign in

Acclimatising to the heat in the kitchen!

Workshop 3

Facilitator: Liza Lomax, therapist, Woodside Fostercare and foster carer

About this workshop

Foster carers’ workplace is their home and, like many workplaces, it is becoming an increasingly stressed environment. Government, Social Services, and the children themselves are all making more demands on the skills and energies of carers. These demands are now in danger of outstripping many carers’ capacity, or inclination, to meet them and it is only recently that this is being recognised and moves to address the situation are being made.

This workshop briefly identifies the complexities carers face, and then looks in greater detail at the ways we might respond to better manage them, with particular emphasis on the current demands for the professionalisation of foster carers.

The inherent conflict that professionalisation presents for some carers is explored:

  • when carers identify warmth and empathy as being the most important qualities in meeting the needs of traumatised children
  • what place do training days and further qualifications have?

They may at times be seen to be challenging or confining rather than complementing the intuitive skills of good carers.

Who should attend

While this workshop arises out of the experiences of carers and is focused on meeting their needs in the current climate of standardisation and certification, it might also be useful to those who recruit, train or supervise carers, providing insights that will be helpful to them in their work.

For more information contact Sally Cartwright on 020 7620 8415 or conference@fostering.net