Sons and Daughters Month

Today’s guest blog comes from Cllr Helen Godwin, my Cabinet Lead for Women, Children and Families.

This October, across the country, we celebrate the contribution of the children of foster carers during Sons and Daughters month.

The theme of this year’s Sons and Daughters Month is #FosteringTeachesYou. This event, established by national fostering charity The Fostering Network, aims to celebrate the vital contribution that the children of foster carers make to foster care.

The sons and daughters of foster carers play an essential role in welcoming fostered children into their families and ensuring successful fostering placements. Many of those thinking about fostering express concern about the potential impact on their own children, which can act as a barrier to becoming a foster carer.

In reality, we speak to many young people who enjoy supporting these children and have turned into exceptionally empathetic adults as a result, often going on to foster themselves. In fact, we have four families in Bristol who grew up in a fostering household as children and now foster alongside their parents as adults!

During the month, we are organising fun activities such as pizza making, climbing and trampolining for these remarkable young people. This is just a small way in which we can show our gratitude, while providing the space to meet up with other children and young people in a similar situation.

To those children and young people who share their families and their homes with children coming into care, we thank you. Your kindness and love really does make a huge difference to those in care. We know you recognise that their backgrounds are often different to yours and we know you often do your best to ensure they are able to experience the same stable and loving upbringing you have.

We filmed a group of sons and daughters of foster carers who told us what it is really like being in a fostering family. You can see the film below and you can keep an eye on @bccfostering and @BristolFostering for more stories.