Building strong relationships blog.
Instability remains the primary concern of children in foster care. On average, 71% of looked after children experience a major life change each year.
Building strong relationships is essential to providing foster children with stability. The breakdown in relationships often causes harm to foster children. It is important to develop strong relationships with the children in your care. Make sure that they feel included in the family. If they feel included, they are less likely to have a disrupted upbringing.
Foster parents and children not only need to develop strong bonds with each other, but with the community. In an environment where looked after children are developing long-lasting and meaningful relationships with others, they are less prone to instability. These relationships can be formed with teachers, social workers and their peers.
Likewise, it is important that foster parents develop strong bonds with the other child care professionals they are working with. Positive relationships mean they are more likely to work efficiently as a team. This means the child has the best possibility of a positive outcome.