ISP Knowledge Hub
Our fostering experts bring together their knowledge, advice and insights to help foster parents achieve extraordinary outcomes for the young people in their care.
Bringing you advice from our expert team of therapists, social workers, and education specialists. Explore articles on a wide range of topics including trauma, attachment, complex needs, education, identity, and more.
Explore our categories
Trauma
Discover how difficult early experiences such as abuse and neglect can affect a child, and the ways in which you can help them heal from past trauma.
What is trauma?
This guide helps you understand what we mean by ‘trauma’ and how it may affect a child in your care.
The impact of trauma
Discover the impact of early childhood trauma, and what it means for young people in foster care.
Trauma and the brain
Learn about the profound impact that childhood trauma can have on brain development.
Trauma and attachment
Explore how a child’s relationship with primary caregivers and those crucial early interactions can shape their attachment style.
Healing from trauma
Explore the strategies and therapeutic perspectives you need to help children recover from trauma.
Exploring the relationship between trauma and ADHD
ADHD and trauma can overlap in foster children. Learn how to tell them apart, understand their impact, and access the right support for your foster family.
Understanding Dissociation
Discover how dissociation can develop as an unconscious coping mechanism for young people facing overwhelming experiences.
From Trauma to Trust
Attachment is key in foster care. Learn how trauma impacts trust and discover ways to build strong, healing relationships with the child in your care.
Therapeutic Needs
Children in foster care often have therapeutic needs linked to trauma. Learn what these needs are and how therapeutic fostering can support healing.
Therapeutic parenting
Discover the latest evidence-based parenting strategies designed to build healing relationships with young people in care.
Therapeutic parenting: Rethinking Parenting Styles for Children in Care
Discover why certain parenting strategies aren’t suitable for foster children, and how to adopt a therapeutic approach.
Secure Base Model Explained
Explore the benefits of the Secure Base model and how it helps children in care feel safe and secure.
PACE Parenting
Learn how to use the PACE approach in daily interactions to build a connection and diffuse difficult situations.
What is therapeutic fostering?
Discover more about therapeutic fostering and how it helps children in care to heal from complex trauma.
Facing Allegations in Foster Care: A Step-by-Step Guide
Find out more about why allegations happen, the processes involved, and how ISP support you if you’re faced with this situation.
Helping Foster Children Manage Big Emotions
Co-regulation helps children in care manage emotions. Learn what it is, why it matters, and how foster carers can support children through emotional storms.
Therapeutic Needs of Children in Foster Care Explained
Children in foster care often have therapeutic needs linked to trauma. Learn what these needs are and how therapeutic fostering can support healing.
Complex needs
Around 7 out of 10 young people in care will have complex needs, including physical or learning disabilities, sensory impairments, or mental health disorders. This series provides expert advice to help children with complex needs thrive in your care.
What are complex needs?
This guide will help you understand complex needs and how to support the young person in your care.
Fostering a child with autism
With the right know-how, you can help a child with autism flourish and reach their full potential.
Autism YouTube Series
In this series, ISP Therapist Marnie shares lots of practical advice for caring for a young person with autism.
Exploring the relationship between trauma and ADHD
ADHD and trauma can overlap in foster children. Learn how to tell them apart, understand their impact, and access the right support for your foster family.
Do you foster children with Autism?
Download our Guide to Autism for expert guidance, tips and strategies on how to provide the best care for autistic children both at home and in their education.
Education
We provide expert advice on the many ways you can support a child at school, as well as some of the challenges you may face, such as school refusal and exclusions.
How to help your child at school
Our experts provide their advice on ways to help the young person in your care thrive at school.
Education, Health & Care Plans
Everything you need to know about EHCPs including who’s eligible, what the plan covers and how to apply.
Special education needs
This guide will help you understand special educational needs and how to support the young person in your care.
My child won’t go to school
We explore some of the reasons why a child may refuse to go to school and what you can do to help.
My child’s been excluded
Here’s what you need to do if a child in your care has been excluded from school.
Help a child go back to school
Many children in care will miss parts of their education. Here’s how you can support their transition back into school.
SEND resources
Discover resources to help children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
Importance of identity
When a child comes into foster care they often feel a huge sense of loss – not only the loss of the people around them but their identity too. This series looks at how foster parents can support a child who may have a different racial, cultural or religious background to them.
Understanding identity
We explore the role of race, ethnicity and culture in identity formation, and how being in foster care may impact that.
Supporting Teenager With Gender Identity
Lucy shares her journey fostering a young person who was exploring their gender identity, and provides some useful advice.
Supporting children from different backgrounds
Practical ways to meet both the physical and emotional needs of a child from a different racial or cultural background.
Why representation matters
We explain why diversity is important for all children, not just those from minority backgrounds.
Already fostering?
Whether things aren’t working out with your current agency or you want to hear about the fantastic work we do at ISP using therapeutic fostering, we’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch today and our fostering experts will be on hand to answer your questions.
