Baby Steps to Big Impact: How YOU Can Make a Difference as a Foster Parent

Ever fancied opening your heart and home to a kid in need? Buckle up because we're about to embark on a soul-stirring adventure into the world of UK fostering with the amazing Caroline Fielder-Shattell and Rachael Tate!

Forget the rose-tinted glasses - these ladies peel back the layers on what it really means to be a foster carer. No sugarcoating, just raw honesty about the challenges, the joys, and the life-changing journey for both you and the children.

Ready to smash the myths holding you back? We'll crack open the whole truth about stability, education, and the careful matching process to ensure every child lands in the perfect home. Plus, we'll shine a spotlight on the National Fostering Group - your cheerleaders every step of the way!

Emotional rewards? Tick. Practical support? Double tick! We'll dive into the nitty-gritty of compensation and the incredible impact you can make on a young life. You'll be amazed at the difference you can bring, even with a busy mum-life juggling act.

Career-queen and fostering dream team? Not a pipe dream! We'll explore the future of fostering friendly workplaces fueled by legislation like the Employment Relations Flexible Working Bill. Imagine a world where fostering is the norm, not the exception! We'll show you how to navigate supportive environments and empower your own workplace to join the movement.

Join us as we celebrate courageous stories, explore innovative pathways, and foster hope for the next generation. This is your chance to be a hero - and it all starts with one brave step.

Listen now and get ready to Work It Like a Foster Mum!

Show Links:

Connect with Caroline Fielder-Shattell on LinkedIn

Connect with Rachael Tate on LinkedIn

Connect with Elizabeth Willetts on LinkedIn

Learn more about becoming a foster career with the National Fostering Group

Boost your career with Investing in Women's Career Coaching! Get expert CV, interview, and LinkedIn guidance tailored for all career stages. Navigate transitions, discover strengths, and reach goals with our personalised approach. Book now for your dream job! Use 'workitlikeamum' for a 10% discount.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hey, I'm Elizabeth Willits and I'm obsessed with helping as many women as possible achieve their boldest dreams after kids and helping you to navigate this messy and magical season of life. I'm a working mum with over 17 years of recruitment experience and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women Job Board and Community. In this show, I'm honoured to be chatting with remarkable women redefining our working world across all areas of business. They'll share their secrets on how they've achieved extraordinary success after children, set boundaries and balance, the challenges they've faced and how they've overcome them to define their own versions of success. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money struggles, growth, loss, boundaries and balance we cover it all. Think of this as coffee with your mates, mixed with an inspiring TED talk sprinkled with the career advice you wish you'd really had at school. So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and make sure you cozy and get ready to get inspired and chase your boldest dreams, or just survive Mondays. This is the Work it Like a Mum podcast. This episode is brought to you by Investing in Women. Investing in Women is a job board and recruitment agency helping you find your dream part-time or flexible job with the UK's most family-friendly and forward-thinking employers. Their site can help you find a professional and rewarding job that works for you. They're proud to partner with the UK's most family-friendly employers across a range of professional industries, ready to find your perfect job? Search their website at investinginwomencouk to find your next part-time or flexible job opportunity.

Speaker 1: 1:52

Now back to the show. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Work it Like a Mum podcast, where we delve into the lives of women who are changing narratives and impacting lives across various sectors. I'm your host, elizabeth Willits, and today I'm joined by Caroline Fielder-Shattle, who is a dynamic force in the fostering sector she works as their National Business Development Executive and Rachel Tate, who is the HR Director. We're going to be talking today all about fostering in the UK, how you can foster, and some of the affinity partnerships as well that Caroline is spearheading. Thank you so much for joining me today. Ladies, it's such a pleasure to chat with you both and find out more about you and your experience, and also, obviously, talk about foster care as well.

Speaker 2: 2:43

You're welcome. It's a real pleasure, absolutely pleasure.

Speaker 3: 2:46

Yeah, thank you for having us both today, oh absolutely so.

Speaker 1: 2:52

I don't know who wants to start, but it'd be really good to get an idea. Maybe, rachel, if you can start. What sparked your passion for working in the fostering sector? What was the journey that led you to the National Fostering Group?

Speaker 3: 3:04

Absolutely. What a great question. So my career in HR has led me through various different sectors, from oil and gas manufacturing and aviation, and my most recent role prior to working in the fostering sector was in children's daycare nurseries. So there was a lot of synergies between, obviously, the needs of children in children's daycare and then moving into a fostering organisation whose primary aim is obviously to find foster families and to secure placements where children can flourish in the foster care system. So naturally it's an easy topic to get passionate about and, with obviously my knowledge in HR and taking that next step in my career to becoming a HR director, it was the natural choice for me to accept the role here at National Fostering Group and it's been a fantastic journey. Ever since, I've absolutely thoroughly enjoyed every single day working with the group and ultimately making a difference to the lives of the children that serve and the families that we support. So, yeah, a little bit about my career journey there.

Speaker 1: 4:16

Oh wow Brilliant. And Caroline was fostering an area that you've always wanted to work in. What led you to the National Fostering Group?

Speaker 2: 4:26

Okay, well, I worked in a university centre across two university groups actually and part of my job role was to facilitate and engage children and your adults in learning about careers, providing we were providing activities and all sorts of things, and part of that meant that I sat on a corporate parenting group for the time, looked after children within the local authority, and that really started to open eyes about the need for foster errors. So, to be fair, I was thinking about it for about three years and getting to know really a little bit more about the foster care system, and so when this position came up because I am a very brand new into the position when it came up, I jumped at it, and particularly because it's a national position as opposed to what I was doing before, which was regional. So really that as soon as I saw the advert, it was kind of right, that is definitely my next move and somewhere that I can make the most difference. So, yeah, that's how I came to be with National Fostering Group.

Speaker 1: 5:54

That's a great story. And foster I'm going to obviously talk a bit about fostering and there's a lot of myths around fostering, but who do you think can foster care?

Speaker 2: 6:04

Well, what we'd say is that as long as you have a spare bedroom, that's the most important thing that you have a spare bedroom and that you are over 21 years old, then you can foster. You obviously have to be able to have the right to work in the UK as well, but those are the three criteria that we ask for for people getting into contact with us, and as long as you can tick all of those boxes, then that's great.

Speaker 1: 6:38

Do you need to have had experience working with children? Experience of looking after your own children? Is that that you are better stead?

Speaker 3: 6:48

Not necessarily no, so anybody. As Caroline said, they're technically foster a child or young person. There are certain skills and prerequisites and credentials that we do acquire, but a lot of the training is provided through National Fostering Group and ultimately it's about being able to provide love, care, attention and a home for a child that's safe and secure, to give them the best start while they're in the placement with us. So, as I said, if they could meet the criteria, such as passing their DBS checks, for example, and, as Caroline said, there has a spare room and a loving, welcoming home, we can provide the training and support necessary within the organisation to help a foster carer on their way to support a child.

Speaker 1: 7:38

Brilliant. And how long are the placements that usually you know people have them once they've trained? How long the children can be placed on.

Speaker 3: 7:47

Yeah, they can be long-term or short-term placements. So again, it depends on the needs of the child. So when we have a child that is requiring a fostering placement, it could be an emergency situation where they may need some respite or a short-term placement or it could be a longer-term solution situation for that child. So it may be weeks, it may be months, it may even be years. It's just dependent on the child's circumstances and typically what they need at that point in their life, dependent on what's going on with their birth family.

Speaker 3: 8:21

So say, for example, a young person comes into foster care because their parent is in hospital having some treatment and there is simply no one to look after that child. That child may need a you know, a few months placement or weeks while the birth parent recovers. And then we see obviously some sad situations where the child may need to be with the foster parent for a longer period of time. Perhaps things have broken down with their birth parents or parent they're in contact with and therefore it's about a more stable placement over a longer term to ensure obviously that child can lead a successful life, fulfill their educational needs in school and obviously have an enriching social life too. So it just depends. It's all situational and obviously everyone and every child is unique, so hopefully that gives you a sense of that.

Speaker 1: 9:14

Yeah, it sounds like then that you'll get people, children from all backgrounds, if you, you know and all ages, spot on.

Speaker 3: 9:22

Yeah, absolutely so. At National Fostering Group we pride ourselves on having a very diverse foster care base as well as a workforce. So at the moment we have about 2800 foster carers and about 800 employees across the group and within that profile we have a diverse mix of ages, of ethnic backgrounds, genders, and what's really important is children. Whichever ethnicity you know it's a societal group they come from we try to match that child with the right foster carer so that they have that experience that's as positive as it can be throughout their placement. As long as that foster parent, as we said, has the love and the home to buy to that child, we do try and get the matching correct.

Speaker 3: 10:13

That is a bit of a process. So, for example, if a Muslim child comes into our care and we could place that Muslim child with a Muslim family and that is what the birth parent would want for their child, if we can do that, of course, that would be our primary aim. But ultimately, as we said, with all the training that we provide, we provide training on things like equality and diversity for our foster parents so that ultimately every placement is a positive one. But where matching can be most the proximity there between the demographics can be matched precisely. We often find that that is a more successful placement. So yes, in a nutshell, we are very diverse and our child base is diverse, as is our foster carer base.

Speaker 1: 10:58

Brilliant, and is there any particular groups of demographics you'd like to hear from that potentially become foster carers? Are you happy to hear from anybody? Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 11:08

Anyone really. I mean, ultimately what children need is love and a caring, stable home where they can be nurtured and grow throughout their placement. But ultimately we do see pockets within our demographics where foster parent groups we could build on diversity backgrounds further. For example, we are always on the lookout for ethnic minority backgrounds foster carers, because we do get a lot of children that come into our care from, for example, with immigration circumstances or, as we said, from different backgrounds.

Speaker 3: 11:47

But ultimately, anyone could potentially be a foster carer. You could be a single parent, you could be a same sex couple, you could be an older, more senior person in life and you're looking to foster a child. It really can be any age, from any background, obviously from 21 up. I think Caroline correct me if I'm wrong our oldest foster parent might even be in their 80s. So yes, there's lots of opportunity there for anyone that's thinking about becoming a foster carer to get in touch with us. Whatever walk of life they're from, If they've got the passion and love to look after a child, then that is the type of person we would love to hear from.

Speaker 1: 12:26

Brilliant and what about those people sorry that have a family? What's the support if you've already got your own children and then you're bringing in foster children? What's the support to those families have trying to integrate the children together?

Speaker 2: 12:40

Well, what we actually find is that if a child is placed with a family who have birth children, that it's actually really quite advantageous for both, because the looked after child, the care experienced child, is going to be entering a stable, loving home with birth children in that scenario, in that situation, so they can learn all sorts of ways and new ways and ways to deal with behavioral issues. You know how a family functions correctly. It gives them an understanding of life and also for the birth child, you know, for them it's an experience that opens their eyes into you know, other children's experience of life, how they deal with things, and all of the birth children that we have we do have actually stories and such like on our website that cover this find it a really, really positive way forward.

Speaker 1: 14:52

That's really good to hear. And then do you also get support getting foster children into the local school? I guess that's something depends how long you guess the placements for.

Speaker 3: 15:03

Absolutely. I mean, as we said, every situation is unique. What's really important for all children really is stability and routine and that children have stable patterns in life so that they, you know, have opportunities in education and their social circles to progress. So what we try to do, wherever possible, is to make sure that that child's school remains their school throughout their foster placement and that that child's friendship groups remain intact throughout their placement. So the worst case scenario, if you like, would be to take a child and uplift them from their home, their town, their school, their friendship group and put them in a completely new environment.

Speaker 3: 15:50

We try and keep as many things consistent for that child to a young person so that the world isn't completely turned upside down, keeping in mind that stability concept.

Speaker 3: 16:00

So, as we said earlier, it's all about the matching process and wherever you are in the UK, if you're hearing this podcast and you think this could be for me there's likely that there will be children in your town, in your city, that need a foster home and they're in the care system at the moment. So it may be that you take that child to and from school every day and the school's just right around the corner of your home and that match would be a great scenario because the child's you know local to you and you can support them by continuing with their current educational placement in their current school for that stability element. So yes, as you said, all about the matching and making sure that child's life is as stable as possible. But in some situations, as you kind of hinted at there, there may be a need for that child to move school as part of their circumstances and all of those factors are obviously discussed throughout the assessment process and the matching process when we look at supporting a foster care through that fostering journey with us.

Speaker 1: 17:09

I guess the message is you want to hear from as many people as possible across the UK because there's a chance that there's somebody local to them need your help, that needs a home, that needs, you know, some love to get through what they're going through.

Speaker 3: 17:24

Completely. Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head there. We need in the UK, nationally, 10,000 foster carers. The social work system needs 10,000 foster carers and there's a deficit at the moment is a national crisis, basically. So it's really important that anyone listening to this if they think that this is something they would be interested in doing, just to explore it as an option, at least drop us a message and we will be happy to talk things through. It may be that you listen to this and you think now's not the right time, but there could be a time later in life, or you might know someone that wants to foster and if that's the case, you know again, we would be happy to hear from them. But you're right Anyone anywhere in the UK listening to this that has an interest in fostering, we would encourage them to get in touch.

Speaker 1: 18:16

Absolutely, and I know we're not going to delve too much into the commercials, but it is. You are compensated, aren't you, for becoming a foster carer. You don't have to do it all for free. Obviously, we want people that love children and want to do it, but there is some financial compensation as well.

Speaker 3: 18:33

Absolutely so. To ensure, obviously, that child is cared for from the sense of from a financial well-being perspective, we would pay the foster carer some of money to support and look after that child during the placement that person would be. Technically, it would be a self-employed basis and, as we say, for a lot of foster carers it's not about the money. It is an important factor, of course, for many, but this is about ensuring that the other factors are fulfilled too, such as the training and the sense of doing a good thing and changing a child's life, as well as all of the other benefits that come with fostering a child.

Speaker 3: 19:18

I mean National Fostering Group offer a range of benefits to their foster carers, as well as, obviously, the monetary element. But it's so enriching. We hear so many foster carers saying it's the best thing I've ever done in my life to foster a child and, as Caroline said there, there's so many videos on our YouTube channel and you can find so many materials on the internet and forums around how people that are fostered is the greatest gift that they've ever received. You know it teaches you a lot about life from a child's perspective and you learn so much more about yourself through giving that gift of a fostering to a child and taking them into your home to change their life. Wow, lovely.

Speaker 1: 20:00

So, caroline, I know you've been working on something recently called affinity relationships and affinity partnerships. Do you want to talk us through what those are and how they used to raise awareness of fostering?

Speaker 2: 20:14

Yes, certainly. Well, having the benefit of being the largest independent fostering service, we have been able to put together what we're calling an affinity partnership. So, as I say, it's a new initiative and it's really you can define it as a partnership between two organisations, so each organisation can meet a business need and, in that, mutual benefits to both parties, and that's without creating a supplier customer relationship. And what we're doing is for each partnership that we develop with an organisation or a group or a charity, it's likely to be different because all organisations, groups and charities are different and run differently. So we're looking at actually providing bespoke packages to them. So what we're looking to offer and what a partnership package might look like is that we can provide training about fostering to staff.

Speaker 2: 21:19

We can look at those misbusting ideas that people have about fostering. We can look at the language that we use when we're talking about care experienced children or young people. So we'll be looking at also maybe contributing to an organisation's corporate social responsibility or environmental social responsibility and community benefits, because obviously each area has different benefits, different types of communities that we can look at helping with. We can be involved in any fundraising support and also obviously highlight the organisation, group or charities product, their event, their service. We can advertise and highlight that to our foster carers, even on a just on a local level if it's a local, regional company like an SME on a national level, and then we would look at having presence on our social media platforms and our website. Again, we could do that on a local level or a national level and perhaps do a short editorial so highlight their company, put a focus, spotlight on them.

Speaker 2: 22:41

We can do podcasts, like we're doing with ULIS, and provide speakers, such as Rachel for conference or guest speaker events nationally. So the training would be the main aspect that we would be looking at and just getting the message out there and highlighting fostering generally. But it really depends upon the product or the service that's being offered by a partner organisation. We could offer that service to our foster carers in terms of inviting somebody to one of our foster carers regular meetings so they can actually meet our foster carers as well. Obviously, as Rachel is going to talk about more about the fostering friendly policies, that's part of it and any opportunities to collaborate either locally or nationally on events or promotions that we're organising. So we could invite organisations in to be part of that. So, basically, what I've spoken about so far is potentially the tip of the iceberg in terms of incentives to join us as an affinity partner, but we are very much looking at providing a bespoke service.

Speaker 1: 23:54

That sounds fantastic. And if there are any organisations listening to this and they want to become foster carer friendly, if they're thinking of their employees and employees that may want to become, or have become, foster carers, what can employees businesses do to be foster care friendly and look after their employees and support them during this process?

Speaker 3: 24:18

Yeah, that's a really good question, isn't it? I mean, if we look at the sort of more common landscape at the moment for many employers in terms of supporting their employees with the family unit, that's still a very traditional model in most employment policies. What do I mean by that? Well, most companies will have a maternity policy, they might have a paternity policy, they might even have an adoption policy or a shared parental leave policy, but what most companies don't have is a fostering friendly policy for their employees.

Speaker 3: 24:54

So we are here as an organisation championing and leading the way in the fostering sector to support organisations and employers so that they are in a more informed position to implement fostering friendly practices, ways of working, flexible working for their workforce, so their best position to support a colleague.

Speaker 3: 25:17

If an employee comes forward and says, hey, you know I work full time but I'd also like to foster, then that employer is obviously on the front foot and they've got that policy, support and guidance from us. And we can also signpost to other great organisations in the UK like the Fostering Network they're a national charity to support that employer with the advice that they may need to be best positioned to support their employee. Just to add to that. We know that nationally, 40% of foster carers combine fostering and work. So as the world of work evolves, we see many people they're actually working part time or even full time and fostering a child as well. So it is absolutely possible and, as we say, we're on a crusade to help as many businesses and employers with becoming fostering friendly as we possibly can.

Speaker 1: 26:11

Really? Yeah, I think that is actually another myth, isn't it? You have to give up your job to foster care, and, speaking with you today and on previous occasions, I know that isn't the case, and people can still progress their career. They can still keep their job whilst foster caring as well.

Speaker 3: 26:27

Absolutely. It's probably the biggest myth that we see. Fostering is completely possible if you work part time. If you work full time, Again, you might want to do emergency placements or weekends and that's something that might interest you, but you maybe can't commit to taking on a child full time. So it's really important, as we said, if this is something that you've listened to, this and you maybe feel moved by this podcast today and you want to reach out to see if it's possible for you in your circumstances, then we would love to hear from you. I mean, as employers, there's lots of things we can do, Speaking as a HR officer, that we can give our workforces to ensure that we adapt to the evolving worlds of work and the needs of families.

Speaker 3: 27:13

We look at, for example, legislative changes that are coming in and how that will impact our employment practices. For example, we've got the Employment Relations Flexible Working Bill that's just been going through at the moment, giving Royal Assent, so that will become a law in 2024 and that means that all employers will be required to take a more flexible approach to the world of work. And, as we say, as a fostering organisation with a UK's leading fostering organisation in the private sector, you know, spoken to Caroline, you know about this at length. We as an organisation and as an executive leadership team believe that we have a duty, a social responsibility, to change the lives of even more children. If we can do that by leading from the front and helping other employers, then you know that's only a good thing and that's what we're seeking to do here.

Speaker 1: 28:09

Absolutely so. What would you both like the foster care sector to be like in the future? What are your hopes, you know, for its future, in five, 10, 15 years time?

Speaker 2: 28:20

Well, I would like to see employers looking upon fostering something that is just the same. As you know, an employee coming and dealing with maternity leave or maternity pay. So it's something that's not out of the ordinary, that is quite normal. It's catered for staff or the staff as much as any other staff member would be. And particularly if we can highlight that with staff and with companies, then that means that really, in terms of myth busting, that it will also help that cause, because people are not going to think, okay, so I've worked full-time, I'm not going to be able to do this, or my employer wouldn't look upon this favorably. That's what I'd really like to see change, because I think that would set the precedent for going forward. So there are no barriers. There are just no barriers in being able to abide, as Rachel's said, that loving family, home to a child or a young person.

Speaker 1: 29:32

And what about you, Rachel? What would be your hopes for the fostering sector in the future?

Speaker 3: 29:37

Absolutely. I mean, I couldn't have put it better than what Caroline said there. I completely echo the sentiments there.

Speaker 3: 29:44

My vision for the future in the fostering sector as a HR professional is that, specifically for the sector, we address the immediate national crisis, that we fill the need to attract and retain more foster carers so we're able to place children with foster carers.

Speaker 3: 30:04

There's thousands of children at the moment that don't have homes. So the immediate need in the sector is to find more loving people that want to change the life of a child. So that's the immediate need. And the longer term need in terms of the landscape for employment is that, as Caroline said, it's normal for an employee to come forward and say you know, hey, I need some time off to look after my child, whom I'm fostering at the moment, much like their own birth child. And if we look at it from a more of a humanitarian element, your birth child needs the same things as a foster child. They're all human beings and ultimately our people policy should reflect the needs of people. And if we can champion that for other employers and the sector, then that is truly the vision there that we make our communities, societies and workplaces better places for people. It's about quality of work, life and quality and sustainable communities where children can flourish and grow.

Speaker 1: 31:08

Brilliant. So if someone's listening to this and they're interested in either becoming a foster care or they want their in HR and they want to know how they can make their workplace more foster care friendly, how do they get in touch with you? Where can they learn more?

Speaker 3: 31:25

Well, they can go on our website, national Fostering Group. You can pop that in Google and it will definitely come up. There's a section on our website where you can get in touch with us, make an inquiry. Even if you're just thinking about fostering or you want to get some information for someone you know maybe would like to foster, we would love to hear from you. We would love to speak to you and set up a call to go through those requirements with you if you would like to become a foster carer.

Speaker 3: 31:57

If you're an employer or a business listening to this, then again, same applies we would love to hear from you. If you're curious about, you know, all this foster friendly policies, the way that your business could support an employee who is looking to foster a child, then again, we can give you free support, advice, toolkits, seminars for your workforce, all leadership teams on becoming a fostering friendly employer, what that means, how you can navigate it and write those policies and make things work practically for your workforce. So, yeah, we either way. We would love to hear from anyone listening to this. If this is spark, you know, some inspiration within them, then that's how you can get in touch with us through the National Fostering Group website. Oh, fabulous.

Speaker 1: 32:45

I'll put all those links in the show notes. It's been brilliant talking to you both. Thank you so much, rachel and Caroline, for joining me today and giving us more information about foster care and the amazing work you do.

Speaker 2: 32:58

Thank you for the opportunity, Liz. We really are grateful oh thank you.

Speaker 3: 33:05

Yep, thank you, liz. It's been an absolute pleasure to meet you and to share a little bit more about what we do and what we're looking to do here. So yeah, thank you very much.

Speaker 1: 33:13

Thank you. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Work it Like a Mum podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and subscribe, and don't forget to share the link with a friend. If you're on LinkedIn, please send me a connection request at Elizabeth Willett and let me know your thoughts on this week's episode. You can also follow my recruitment site Investing in Women on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Until next time, keep on chasing your big dreams.