The Benefits of Parent & Child Fostering
Parent and child fostering is a deeply rewarding role. Not only will you provide a safe, therapeutic home for a vulnerable child, but you'll also offer parents the time and space they need to grow confidently into their parenting role. In this article, we explore the positive impact parent and child fostering has on children, parents and you.
What is parent and child fostering?
Becoming a first-time parent is challenging, and during this life-changing chapter, parents often look to their families for guidance and support. Some parents don't have this support network or have experienced turbulent childhoods that make it difficult for them to provide a safe and stable home for their children.
Parent and child foster parents welcome these vulnerable adults and their children into their homes and offer hands-on guidance to help them build essential caregiving skills. This type of fostering provides a lifeline for vulnerable mothers and fathers, preventing them from having to separate from their children while their parenting skills are assessed.
Parent and child fostering arrangements can start during pregnancy to prepare parents for their baby's arrival, just after birth, or even later if there are concerns about consistency of care.
The Benefits of Fostering a Parent and Child
Therapeutically Support Young Parents
As a parent and child foster parent, your role will involve mentoring and coaching vulnerable parents, so they acquire the practical and emotional skills they need to parent by themselves.
Your emotional support and encouragement could also help them feel less isolated as a new parent and give them confidence in their new role. Not only will this help them build a strong, healthy relationship with their child, but it will also enable them to parent more effectively.
Keeps families together
Parent and child fostering aims to help keep families together. Providing a safe and stable home for a parent and their baby gives them the time and space to bond in a nurturing environment.
The support and safety of a parent and child foster home ensures that the child's needs are always met while the parent learns and grows. You’ll help the parent build a routine and take on more parenting responsibilities as they become more confident in their abilities. If the parent is willing to learn from you and makes sufficient progress, proving they have the skills to meet the changing needs of their baby, they'll eventually leave care with their child.
Prepares parents for independence
Many parents in parent and child foster placements may not have received the guidance needed in their own childhood to develop essential life skills for independent living.
By helping parents build caregiving skills, you'll also create a safe space for them to learn and practice fundamental skills for independence, like managing money, cooking and caring for the home. These skills will help them become more self-reliant and better equipped to care for themselves and their child when they leave care.
Positive role modelling
As a parent and child foster carer, you’ll be a positive role model for both the parent and their child. You’ll share your wisdom and direct the parent in creating a happy, safe and supportive home by modelling positive behaviour and therapeutic parenting techniques.
Your positive influence will guide parents in developing healthy parenting strategies and ways to take care of their well-being as a new parent, empowering them to provide the best possible care for their children throughout life's challenges.
When you support a parent, you help build the foundation for their child to have a happy, nurturing childhood where their needs are always met, and they receive the love and attention they deserve.
Building a network of support
When you foster with ISP, you receive wrap-around support from fostering professionals, including therapists and counsellors. This support extends to the parent so they can have a more positive future with their child.
They’ll also benefit from being part of a therapeutic support system where they can build relationships, helping them feel less isolated when they leave care.
As a foster parent, you'll receive support around the clock and have regular meetings with your supervising social worker, who'll be by your side as you welcome each person into your home. You'll also receive extensive training, including our City & Guilds Therapeutic Pathway Programme.
We value your dedication to helping families stay together, which is why you'll receive a generous parent and child fostering allowance and additional perks. With ISP, you'll have the skills, knowledge and support needed to steer parents into brighter futures with their children.
If you'd like to guide young parents and keep more families together by being a mentor and providing a safe, stable and nurturing home, enquire today.
