If you have ideas, experiences, issues and success stories that you'd like to share with your peers – then Share Street is the place to do it

Share Street is an online community for the children’s workforce. It’s an opportunity for sharing resources and discussing good practice in the workplace, for building networks and communicating with colleagues.

It’s free to join and you can get involved in foster care forums, watch videos, view case studies and access a wealth of useful resources designed to make your life easier.

So why not pay a visit to Share Street and have your say?
http://sharestreet.cwdcouncil.org.uk/ForumDiscussions-22-1.aspx

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to those carers who are today receiving Commendations for regularly completing their Training and Monthly Reports and also to those carers who are receiving their Long Service Awards.

Well done & We hope you had a memorable day

ChrysalisCare Team

Professionalisation or (over)due acknowledgement?

The notion of professionalising foster care has been on the agenda for some time, it appears that it is the logistics of this that create the barrier....what about sick and holiday absence? What about legislation around hours of work and taking regular breaks? But the detail perhaps serves to cloud the significance of the crucial bigger picture.

For years, I have listened to foster carers reflect upon situations, where they have conveyed that they were not seen as professionals and that their views were not sought, or considered with any conviction. Some are able to reflect more deeply and acknowledge that some of this is attributable to their own confidence levels and that they can sometimes struggle to ‘find their voice’. I would assert that this is not just the domain of foster care, as more and more often, services for children are organised in multi agency and integrated contexts, leading to there being a range of people with varying professional status being involved in the care a child receives.

This, in itself, has turned notions of professional hierarchy on its head. In the realms of foster care, whether a foster carer lacks some confidence or is highly assertive, the fact remains that the foster carer spends most time with the child, they are charged with keeping accurate records and appropriate information sharing. They have front line responsibility for safeguarding the welfare of the child and for ensuring that the every child matters agenda (or 'help children achieve more') is fulfilled. They have to balance personal and professional values and manage the inevitable interplay between the two. Regular learning and development and supervision is central to their role. They have to maintain a work ethic, yet be on call 24 hours a day. Sounds like a professional to me.

Jo Oliver

Service Development Manager

Hello and Welcome to the Chrysalis Care blog spot

Allé Pflaumer, Director

I am pleased to welcome you to our exciting blog spot. Chrysalis Care is an independent fostering provider, looking after children in London and the home counties. We have been operating since 1997 and have an ‘outstanding’ reputation.



As you will be aware there are many issues and topics highlighted by the media regarding looked after children, foster care, social services and children not being taken into care with tragic consequences.

The Chrysalis Care blog spot will be a forum where some of these topics, issues and other thoughts associated with fostering and looked after children will be discussed by staff, foster carers and perhaps some young people. I hope you enjoy them and please feel free to comment.