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Reducing Risks for Teenagers in Foster Care

Background
TSA received a grant from the Big Lottery Fund in 2004 for a three-year project that included research and the production of training materials and other resources to help social workers, foster carers and young people. The project aimed to improve the way foster families manage ‘risky’ behaviour, to strike a balance between protecting young people and enabling them to learn from their own experiences. The project had two main stages:

Stage 1: Research, May 2004 – December 2005
The research was carried out in 3 stages with a local authority in each UK country. Initially, focus groups of teenagers in foster care, foster carers and social workers provided contextual information. Individual interviews with each group then gave us detailed information that shaped the content of the subsequent training programme. Foster carers and young people completed seven-day diaries which offered a fascinating insight into day-to-day issues for young people and foster families. The project’s research found that relationships were the central to minimising risks for young people. Developing trust emerged as the key to making relationships work.

Stage 2: Resources and Training Materials, Jan 2006-May 2007 Informed by the project’s research, we produced the training pack Teenagers in Foster Care: Promoting Positive Relationships to help foster carers and social workers understand how to build trust and appreciate why positive relationships lie at the heart of a wide range of issues including some that are not so immediately obvious such as health and education. The pack covers:

• Making sense of adolescence – Adolescent development and fostering
• Trust me – Developing positive relationships
• Everyone has a past – Getting off to a good start
• Making a difference – Promoting social relationships, education, health and wellbeing.

The project also produced Getting Along, a one-off magazine for young people in foster care. It covers topics such as joining foster families, trust, school, family contact etc. It will reassure many young people that their experiences are shared by others.

The resources as available from TSA’s publications team. A full research report (and summary) was published in October 2008.

Project staff
Jayne Hellett (Training Manager, Mental Health), Kevin Lowe (Co-Director and project manager) and Dr Stephanie Stace (Research Officer), were responsible for this project.

More information:
Please e-mail Kevin Lowe or call him on 01273 647 335

June 2009