Voices of Fostering

Victoria - Bridge to Foster & Helping Children Move from Residential Care to Family Homes

• National Fostering Group • Season 4 • Episode 30

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In this eye-opening episode of Voices of Fostering, we sit down with Victoria, a Senior Creative Care Solutions Practitioner who leads the Bridge to Foster program at National Fostering Group. With over 20 years of social work experience, Victoria is on a mission to help young people transition from residential homes into loving foster families.

Victoria breaks down common misconceptions about children in residential care and explains why many of them are only there due to a shortage of foster carers —not because of complex behaviors. She shares the profound impact of having consistent, loving adults who show up at every sports day, celebrate every milestone, and provide a place to call home even after turning 18.

If you would like to find out more about fostering please visit our website here.

If you have any questions that you would like to be answered on our next episode email podcast@nfa.co.uk

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Helen:

Hello and welcome to this episode of Voices of Fostering. I'm delighted to be joined today by one of our team from the National Fostering Group. Uh, Victoria is a senior Creative Care Solutions Practitioner and also leads on our Bridge to Foster as well. So we're gonna learn all about that. Hello, Victoria. Hi, how are you? I'm good, thanks. How are you? Good. Thank you very much. Oh, thanks so much for joining us today, Victoria. So a Creative senior Creative care solutions Practitioner. Tell us, tell us what you do

Victoria:

in a nutshell. I'm part of a bigger team, which is the Creative Care Solutions team, and we try to identify the right carers for more, more complex children who are either on the verge of. Going into residential care or maybe have multiple homes they've lived in. And for whatever reason, the foster care and match hasn't been right. Or the bridge to foster, which is what I do. Whereas young people are ready, the local authority are saying our young person's ready to come out of residential home and live in a foster family. And then my job really is to find the right foster family for that young person and then match them up together with the right support wraparound package, and hopefully that'd be their final move out of. In, in the last view of the care journey really, I guess. Yeah.

Helen:

Um, what would you say, Victoria, are some of the, the common misconceptions that people might have about children in residential homes?

Victoria:

I think really sadly, there are, there's been a, a big shift, um, there because there are so few foster carers that local authorities are having to put young people who wouldn't normally. Kind of their behaviors and their struggles wouldn't mean they should live in a residential foster, sorry, residential home. But unfortunately, 'cause there aren't any foster carers in order to keep them safe at that moment, they're put into residential homes. So there's a, a big stigma about children that coming outta residential homes have these big complex behaviors when actually in truth, there are many children that are outside in residential homes who are only there because of circumstances and actually they would thrive in a family.

Helen:

Yeah,

Victoria:

absolutely.

Helen:

And I suppose this is why we need foster carers, isn't it? Because you ideally don't want a child in a residential home. But can you tell us what those settings are like?

Victoria:

Yeah, I mean the, the kind of comparison between living in a foster family, if you like and live in a reside residential home, it's, it's in the wording. You are an part of a family if you live in a foster home. You have the same people in your, in your home all the time. Whereas in a residential home, every 24 hours or so, that shift changes. So those people go home to their own families, then they come back. So I guess even the basics, like a child's sports day in residential care, they're probably gonna experience different people throughout the years of their schooling come to their sports day and celebrate. Whereas in a foster family, every year, your foster, foster, you know, effective foster parents are gonna be at your sports day, cheering you on.

Helen:

Yeah. So

Victoria:

the big differences are those little moments that are different in, in kind of that stability that you have within foster care and that longevity. Yeah. Of the same. Some people who are always gonna be champion for you. Not that I'm saying residential staff can't do that, it's just very different.

Helen:

Yeah,

Victoria:

absolutely.

Helen:

And I suppose it's like, um, it's, it's that love and care, isn't it? As I'm sure people who work in residential care homes, of course they care, of course they go into work and do their, the, the best that they can. But there's not that, that nurturing and that love that you get, as you say, from a family setting.

Victoria:

Yeah, and I think you have that extension as well within a foster family. It is the aunties, uncles, nan, and granddads, and there's that kind of, that big network around you of that support. So it's that extension almost that kind of, I guess that that extra, that extra really connection that you have that's consistent and I guess as natural as it possibly can be as a child in care. Yeah. Whereas in residential staff come and go.

Helen:

And Victoria, what is the difference in outcomes that you see from children who go into a foster home rather than a residential home? What's the difference?

Victoria:

I think for me, the biggest thing is that once you hit 18, and once you become an adult in the eyes of kind of, you know, we're our ages sit. So in society at 18, you're an adult, you can go vote, you can rent a flat, you can do all these things. Children that are in reside residential care will have to leave their home at 18. This. You know, there isn't a provision for post 18 where, where children's homes are concerned. Whereas in a foster home, a stay put arrangement, which would be the 18 plus kind of care providing contract, if you like, that foster carers will continue to support those young people, either in the home or potentially from a distance. But you get that ability to come back, have, you know, family roast, bring your washing back, as well as, as you kind of grow up and develop just as you would in a, in a family setting. The outcomes are about that, having those people behind you too. See you through your jesuses and to, you know, reach those kind of goals that we want for any child.

Helen:

Yeah,

Victoria:

they are. You know.

Helen:

And let's learn a little bit about you, Victoria, and your background.'cause you've been a social worker, is that right? For over 20 years, since you became a social worker. So what led you to this role?

Victoria:

So I, I became a social worker in 2004. Sorry. Lived in, still live in Plymouth. Lived in Plymouth, went to Plymouth University, decided that social work would kind of be my. My pathway, if you like, worked in the local authority down in Plymouth. Then I worked in Devon for a while, so about nine years in total. I did local authority social work, so child protection, ranging, you know, all that to kind of care leavers and long-term fostering. So dealt a lot with young people who were coming into care, but also then being their local authority. Social workers, supported them wherever they lived, including Residential Homes Inc. You know, foster homes. And yeah, I kind of, that was over nine years ago. I only went to see. How I kind of found being a fostering supervisor, social worker, that then grew into being an advanced Practitioner within the team of Pathway Care down in Devon, where I got support young people and carers and really kind of, I felt like. Being on that side of the fence where I was making those connections to young people and the foster care as and matching and, you know, being part of that journey was, was really like, I enjoyed, so in August this year when the Bridged Foster, almost like support wraparound package was being relaunched mm-hmm. I was asked to step in and kind of come across the CCS team, which I, I jumped at.'cause it is a service I really believe can make. A difference so that our young people are coming out residential and hopefully building those roots with our foster families. Yeah. So what does a typical day look

Helen:

like for you then? Victoria?

Victoria:

There isn't one. A lot less chaotic a lot now, nowadays in the CCS team. Um, so I do a lot of conversations that, a lot networking with local authorities, the commissioning kind of teams about the young people they feel are ready to come up, come kind of into fostering, speak to our, one of, one of our many agencies across, across the country about. Their kind of availability really, and their, their skill sets of their carers and seeing whether we can match up that kind of, you know, as a, as a hope, as a really hopeful home match. Then I would look at what support's needed. So making sure we have our clinical on board and all of our team will really come together to kind of look at a very bespoke package for any young person in the foster family.

Helen:

Yeah. And this feels like it's so much more than a job to you, like it's a, it's a real passion, isn't it? Um, what is it that, that keeps you motivated to do this work?

Victoria:

I do truly believe that. It's, it's not just about a young person and a family. It's about creating, you know, a new chapter and hopefully helping to rewrite someone's future. And at the moment we've got lots of young people that are. Are sat in residential homes that just don't need to be there. Yeah. We don't have enough carers, you know, nationally, but within our agency we have carers that I believe if we can shine a light on them, they might be able to offer the bridge to foster that's needed at that moment for that young person.

Helen:

And let's just for a moment, Victoria, put ourselves in the shoes of a child or young person who's in a residential home. What might they be feeling like? Is there a real sense in those places that they just want to be part of a foster family? Is it like everyone's dream?

Victoria:

I don't think so. I think there's a real mix of some young people who potentially have had experience of foster families and then they've ended up in residential for, you know, whatever reason. Yeah, there'll be quite a big fear around that, and then having to connect to a family again and trust a family again. So there needs to be a lot of support and thought around that and, and ensuring as much as possible that the young person feels that it's right for them. And there are other young people that Absolutely, and as you know, as they kind of develop and see their friends in their homes, they just know they're different. They, um, it's that sense of feeling like you're different. So coming to foster care, hopefully Will, will help that.

Helen:

And how young can some of these children be that are in residential homes?

Victoria:

I'm looking at referrals for six year olds. Wow. And that's just through circumstance, not because they're there because of anything that, you know, it's not, it's circumstance rather than their kind of actions or behaviors. Yeah.

Helen:

So if someone's listened to this now and you know they're considering being a foster carer, what would she say to them? How would you encourage them to go for it? I would

Victoria:

absolutely explore it and go with, you know, speaking to super find social worker. Or if you know someone that's fostering or you know, by all means, look on our website and, and, and speak to us because even if it's not the right time at this moment, it doesn't mean it's not something that we can, we can kind of connect up with on the future. There are lots of, lots of opportunities for, for foster carers, for adults to kind of come on board and then for young people hopefully to be able to come and stay with them. And with our support that we do wrap around it. It isn't just in, you know. There have been times when we just have to move children very quickly and place them somewhere. Mm-hmm. You know, we don't do that. As British Foster, we do a transition. We start with almost like a six week transition, then we move on to another, the next stage and the next stage. Every, every stage is reviewed by the whole team to make sure what we're doing is right, and if it isn't, what can we change to make it.

Helen:

Yeah. And it sounds like there's so much support every step of the way and every situation is different. It's not a one size fits all at all, is it? Not at all. No. It is very bespoke. It has

Victoria:

to be, you know, and we, we have to be real as well, that it's not gonna work for everybody the way one way does. So we kind of, we, we, we always want to evolve because that's what we need to do. But it is about actually doing that.

Helen:

Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for talking to us today, Victoria, and, um, thanks for all the amazing work that you do and, and, and keep up the good work. Thank you so much.

Victoria:

Thank you. Thank you for your time.

Helen:

Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of Voices of Fostering. If you'd like to find out more, head online and search National Fostering group and make this the year you foster.