Looking After Young People At This Critical Stage
- Why is teenage foster care so important?
- How does fostering teenagers differ from fostering younger children?
- How can you aid the development of a teenage foster child at this critical stage?
Why Is Teenager Foster Care So Important?
Providing foster care for teenagers and older children is vital because it provides a protective, stable environment during this critical stage in a young person’s life. During their teenage years, young people undergo social and neurological development that will impact their future life experiences. Therefore, providing the right space for teenagers to transition into young adults is vital. Adolescence for any child is a volatile time, but for young people in care, there will most likely be additional trauma, as well as the risk of exploitation and homelessness to consider. Teenage foster care provides a safe space to protect young people and give them the best chance to develop into self-sufficient, confident young adults.
How Does Fostering Teenagers Differ From Fostering Younger Children?
Fostering teenagers is quite different from fostering younger children, but fostering any age group will require similar skills and attitude. In the UK, the foster care system is in urgent need for foster carers willing to foster teenagers. Teenagers are more self-sufficient than younger children, but will have bigger challenges to face, with puberty, secondary school and the general trials and tribulations of adolescence and approaching adulthood. On top of this, many teenagers in the foster care system will have previously experienced trauma and abuse in unstable environments. Therefore, at this critical stage in their development, extra support and hard work will be required to set them on the right path.
How Can You Aid The Development Of A Teenage Foster Child At This Critical Stage?
- Building Healthy Relationships: Healthy relationships within your foster family, and with a teenager’s social worker and birth family, as well as with local authorities, play a vital role in their development. Being a role model, ensuring open communication, and teaching the teenager in your care life skills are all crucial components of building and maintaining healthy relationships that will have a positive impact.
- Enabling and Championing Self-Sufficiency and Independent Living: Teaching teenagers life skills that will set them up for adulthood is an excellent way to enable and champion self-sufficiency. The ultimate goal of fostering teenagers is to provide them with the skills and experience they need to live independently. As a teenage foster carer, it is your job to provide a loving, safe foster home where they can develop and grow into competent, confident young adults.
- Understanding the Value of Full-Time Education and Opportunities: Ensuring the teenager in your care is attending secondary school and reaping the benefits and opportunities provided by full-time education is vital. Whether the goal is an apprenticeship, sixth form, college or university, a safe home environment plays a vital role in enabling teenagers to discover what they want to do in the future, and how they can get there.
At Changing Futures Fostering, we’re an agency that provides our foster parents with all of the information and support they need to really make a difference in a vulnerable child’s life. If you need any more information about teenage foster care, or about foster care in general, or if you have any other questions or queries, please click here to contact us, or send us an email at admin@changingfuturesne.co.uk to talk to our brilliant fostering team! Alternatively, feel free to call us on 01429 363 127.