On Sunday BBC 2 launched it’s new documentary series following the foster carer’s at Dorset County Council on their journey with fostering. Here’s the Clifford House review of episode one.
I felt it was a really fair and realistic portrayal of the job our carers do and the needs of the children we work with. Also some of the highly difficult situations that carers, children and us as social workers face.
It showed the story of a 14 year old girl (Amy) who had been to stay with a family in respite for the summer. She described the two weeks as ‘the best of her life’. They live on a farm and she was doing lots of outdoorsy ‘children’s’ things and got on well with their carers own son. The carers have 3 children of their own. At a later date, Amy then came to live with the family (this may have been to do with a placement breakdown, she had quite a few). The carers were hugely committed to her and treat her wholeheartedly as a part of their family. The fondness they hold towards her was really evident I feel within the programme and all had genuine high hopes this would become Amy’s long term placement.
The cracks start to show when Amy’s birth sister is placed within the family, this was initially only meant to be for a week or two as it was known the children were best placed apart. However, this rolled into quite a significant period as social workers were struggling to find another placement for her. This had a huge impact on Amy and the stability of the placement. The carers didn’t really have the room for Amy’s sister so they were sharing a bedroom. Amy felt her privacy and home was being invaded and voiced this regularly. Sadly it showed how rapidly things changed as Amy started to push boundaries and the carers ended up providing notice on the placement as felt unable to keep Amy safe and meet her needs. This was following input from the child’s social worker, fostering social worker and respite.
I thought it was powerful as showed all the viewpoints of the different people involved and how after such a positive start and all the will in the world, just how desperately sad the ending was for all. Amy who somewhat made light of the situation but looked distraught and felt rejected and the carers who also were devastated and felt they had failed and let Amy down. It also highlighted the shortage of placements available for children which was highlighted through Amy’s sisters and how much she was struggling to identify a placement for her. Furthermore the importance of careful decision making in high pressured situations, as I am unsure if the placement would have broken down if Amy’s sister hadn’t been placed there.
Overall I felt it was a really good programme!