ChrysalisCare Fostering

No Ceiling to Hope? – Working for a Better Society

2012-01-26T14:36:00.000+01:00

Today, I have read two news items that have struck a chord – firstly, the XLP Annual Report (http://www.xlp.org.uk/) and I also downloaded the sample chapter from Patrick Regan’s latest book: ‘No ceiling to hope’. The work of XLP is inspiring and I look forward to attending their open day on 1st March 2012. They produce some t-shirts – must get one – with slogans such as: ‘I refuse to believe this is a lost generation’. As someone committed to enrichment and a believer that there truly is no celing – it IS possible for young people (or anyone, whatever age) to turn themselves around and with the right support and guidance and environment, to make better choices, for their own lives, for their community and for a better society.

The other news item was a link sent to me by my colleague, Julie Collins, which was from the CEO of the NSPCC, Andrew Flanagan (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/andrew-flanagan/child-protection-we-need-a-rethink_b_1176853.html). Again, Andrew is clearly passionate about the protection of children and in the commitment of us all: “It's not just a 'Big Society' but a 'Better Society'; a society that does not look to others to act, but is willing to act themselves.” Hear, hear - our social responsibility is absolutely key to making the changes that policy and legislation clearly cannot.

This is a bitter sweet blog…Andrew promotes that dwindling resources now be redirected to the priority of younger children but what about all of those young people who surely cannot be considered the lost generation (?): Is the choice that crude? This is not a criticism of the latter news story (a blog worth airing in my view) but it does bring to the forefront the complexity of the struggle.

Yes, babies and young children need to be protected and nurtured. Yes, parents and families need to be supported and empowered. Yes, young people need to be provided with supportive and inspiring environments to flourish and make good -no great – choices.

At Chrysalis Care, we believe in children – a child is a child until they are eighteen years old – please let us never forget this. There are other agencies that do fantastic work with adults, confirming the ‘hope has no ceiling’ mantra. It is imperative that we do not give up on hope for better – if we believe, we can achieve.

Joanna Oliver, Strategic Development Executive

Chrysalis Care supports ‘Give a child a home’

2012-01-24T16:26:00.000+01:00

Our Registered Manager, Ian Dixon, was recently invited to meet the Prime Minister and other Senior Ministers and Directors for a round table discussion about fostering and adoption. This event was on the national news albeit he didn't get into camera shot!

Ian said: “This was a proud event for Chrysalis Care and demonstrates that (as fostering providers), we DO have a bigger, as in the Bigger arena on how we shape fostering in the future. It was a short meeting but nonetheless, good for us at Chrysalis Care and I hope the discussion helped the Prime Minister have a better understanding of how we all work together.”

At Chrysalis Care, we are committed to contributing to improving the services that children and young people receive, so that they can have the positive life experiences that all children should enjoy. We are extremely pleased that fostering and adoption is receiving the attention that it is and valued being invited to be a part of this event.

visit: http://www.giveachildahome.co.uk/

Ian Dixon/Joanna Oliver

Crisis looms for foster care in 2012

2012-01-19T11:08:00.000+01:00

At least 8,750 new foster families need to be found across the UK in the next 12 months to avoid a crisis in foster care in 2012, the Fostering Network has warned today (20 December).

The new figures show the scale of the challenge for fostering services as they struggle to provide the right foster homes for all the children who need them.

The number of children in care who need foster homes has risen for five years in a row, and is continuing to rise. There is also an ageing foster carer population and around 14 per cent of the workforce retire or leave every year.

Without these extra families, too many children will have to settle for second best. This might mean living with a foster carer who is a long way from the child’s home, school and family, or who does not have space for their brothers and sisters, or even living in residential care when fostering has been identified as the right option.

Robert Tapsfield, chief executive of the Fostering Network, said: “These figures are alarming – we could be facing a real crisis when looking to provide the most appropriate care for children who cannot live with their own family.

“All children in care need a family they can grow up with who can love them, be ambitious for them and help them achieve their potential. For a growing number, foster care is the best option.

“By becoming a foster carer people can help the children they welcome into their homes to have the best possible opportunity of a positive future, do well at school and be successful in later life."

An extra 7,100 foster carers are needed in England, 1,000 in Scotland, 550 in Wales and 100 in Northern Ireland.

More for less?

2011-09-23T14:52:00.001+02:00

In the current climate of austerity, it would be tempting to go down the road of ‘gloom and doom’. There is no doubt that everyone is required to ‘tighten their belt’ and for an organisation like Chrysalis Care, which works on the basis of being inclusive and child centred, it presents challenges to us. Commissioners want to know what we are doing to save money….and understandably want to know whether we can do what we do for less? The challenges are for us all, as a cross sector, interagency team.

It is important to us to maintain our high quality service, to remain outstanding and to be true to our core ethos and identity. It is also important to remember to remain optimistic and hopeful in the face of adversity. By remaining optimistic, we are in a stronger position to be creative and responsive. To remember that what we are doing IS in the best interests of the child and that our belief in children and their rights to a positive experience and a future where they are able to realise their potential, is why we do what we do.
Doing more for less may be a challenge but doing more because children and young people deserve it is absolutely still the right thing to do.

Joanna Oliver, Strategic Development Executive

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY!!

2011-01-10T14:50:00.000+01:00

It was inevitable really that I would end up working in our family business. Or was it? Who would have thought it way back when I was 10 years old and we started to foster teenage young people in our home that 27 years on I would be involved in running an ‘outstanding’ fostering provider. It’s been an interesting journey! It all started with mum and dad helping out at our youth club, they ran a business selling basket ware ( the in thing in the 80’s I believe) But then helping out with young people drew my parents into ‘befriending’, youth and community work and social work and then fostering. Actually having young people in your home had its ups and downs, as well as us three girls, we often had one or two other young people living with us. It was hard at times sharing your parents or your bedroom (in those days you could). There were some interesting characters, one a girl punk who had amazing pictures painted on her face, wild backcombed hair, who dressed in black and chains. Even now I can remember what her room smelt like, sort of a musty smell and perfume mixed together. Then there was the lad who liked to body pop and taught me a few moves as well. A boy who stole things, a girl who dressed as a boy and many more. There was one girl I remember really well, it felt as though she was one of us (I have two younger sisters) she was a similar age to us and fitted in but sadly things did not work out and we were all left with a lot of sadness. I met her a few years ago and found out she had called her daughter the same name as mine. I feel really honoured to know that there is another Allé out there. Many came and went throughout the years but each one and each experience taught my sisters and I things about ourselves and others. For example how do you communicate with someone when almost everything they tell you is a lie, or someone has lost the use of their arm in a motorbike accident, or lost both their parents or were sexually abused by family members? All these experiences….. and only a child myself.

But they shaped and formed me into who I am today. As a teenager, I decided to become a teacher because I thought this would give me the most opportunity to help make a difference in children’s lives. During my training and practice in schools I found myself drawn to the kids that lacked self esteem, did not speak in class, never smiled or laughed, did not like school. The rewards of seeing them blossom and smile with pride as you stood them up in front of their class and showed their wonderful piece of work and gave them a sticker inspired me to go onto teaching children who were in foster care and excluded from schools. I realised that it was children’s self worth and not education that was inspiring to me. Later I gained my qualification and MA in Play Therapy. It was then that I came and worked for Chrysalis Care nearly 10 years ago. My parents had set it up in 1997 after many years of working in the public and private sector with looked after young people. Chrysalis Care comes from the family, it is home grown as they say, (even the offices were in our home originally). My youngest sister is a Social worker and a Director of Chrysalis Care too and will have her own story to tell. My middle sister is a foster carer for children with disabilities in Reading. So perhaps it was inevitable that all three of us with our experiences growing up in a fostering household would have our future mapped out in the caring profession. I certainly never imagined that I would be involved in running a family business helping so many others make a difference in children’s lives.

Caring for children and young people is at the heart and foundation of Chrysalis Care. Our logo says “Transforming Lives” and we really believe that children in our care will have their lives transformed. Perhaps what we do not always acknowledge, is how our lives are transformed also.

By Allé Pflaumer

Director

2010-12-24T12:12:00.000+01:00

Chrysalis Care wishes everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Care Experienced Young People

2010-12-13T12:47:00.000+01:00

Why not take a look . . .

http://www.scie.org.uk/socialcaretv/video-player.asp?guid=%7b23D82CF5-9171-4F46-B1C6-89149397EB1F%7d

CWDC – or some ‘other’, surely its business as usual for our fantastic foster carers?

2010-12-13T12:41:00.000+01:00

A number of our fantastic foster carers have now achieved their CWDC training, support and development standards and I continue to be impressed with the way Chrysalis Care foster carers remain committed to their learning and development. A treat on the day that we held an event to award CWDC certificates was the presence of our local MP David Evennett, who came to visit our head office in Bexleyheath, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/bexleyheathcrayford/5189853774/ for more on this.

Perhaps the involvement of local government is wholly appropriate in the current climate of devolved services. Although some of us may want to shield our eyes and our ears to the role of the government in what we do, there is a need (and a value) in acknowledging politicisation. To not consider agendas – such as notions of the ‘Big Society’ – is to not take on board everything that affects our current and future practice. In particular in relation to the CWDC, some significant changes to its organisation will undoubtedly affect, albeit even confuse us!

For those who have been around in the sector for some time, we are used to new standards, new milestones and in how these changes can sometimes cause some misunderstanding about what we are ‘supposed’ to do. This time is no different. I have received a little flurry of emails from people showing me the news about CWDC and asking if this means we can ditch the work books now (!). Some others have been concerned that they will have to rewrite their training programmes.

I say we carry on ‘as we were’ – the work is the same work, children and young people still need to be cared for in good, nurturing and stable homes. Foster carers still need to work within a framework that guides their good (and very, very good – outstanding even!) practice.

As we have learned from some of the changes to language over recent months, some of this is merely semantic and everything else remains essentially the same. In the case of CWDC, whether it is them or some ‘other’, something is necessary - to give credit to and reflect the fantastic role that Chrysalis Care foster carers have in transforming the lives of children and young people.

Jo Oliver

Service Development Manager

2010-11-25T15:20:00.000+01:00

CWDC Certificate presentations at Chrysalis Care, Bexleyheath, on Friday 19.11.10

Click on the Link below to view;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bexleyheathcrayford/5189853774/

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

2010-09-30T14:47:00.000+02:00

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

2010-09-16T13:30:00.000+02:00

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?

2010-09-02T15:16:00.000+02:00

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

2010-09-02T14:40:00.000+02:00

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.

RECRUITMENT

2010-08-16T14:59:00.000+02:00

Chrysalis care is a family run, established agency that prides itself on “transforming the lives “ of the children we look after. There is a national shortage of foster carers and we are actively recruiting in Kent, London and Bedfordshire to ensure local children have local foster homes.

As well as our familes who look after children of all ages, we also have a range of specialist foster families: those who look after young siblings, those who undertake Parent and Child Fostering and those who look after young people on Remand.

All of our foster families receive a professional fee, 24 hour advice and a huge range of training and other social and professional opportunities to develop.

So, COULD YOU FOSTER?. A question you should look at closely with your family and friends. You need to have spare room, be available full time and have a sense of fun and resilience. Call NOW ON 0208 298 2800 if you would like some more information and we will visit you within a week to offer you more information.

Children's Services Summer Fun

2010-07-29T13:29:00.000+02:00

Here are some dates to put in your diary for the Summer holidays:
Activities are open to all CC foster families

Monday 09th August - Broadstairs Beach day
Tuesday 10th August - Epping Forest Picnic
Friday 13th August - Picnic In The Park (Bexleyheath)
Monday 16th August - Howletts Zoo Trip
Tuesday 17th August - Trip to London
Friday 20th August - Adventure Island/Southend

For more informations & To book places please call Jo or Richard
on 0208 298 2800

SUMMER EVENT DETAILS

2010-07-27T17:05:00.000+02:00

Bexleyheath - The Danson Centre
Date: Wed 4th August 2010

Time: 11.00 - 15.00

Details: EVERY fun activity you could think was happening last year somewhere in Bexley as theborough celebrated National Play Day. Thousands of children and their families across the borough flocked to the events, whose theme last year was Give Us A Go. Activities on offer this year include arts & crafts, sports, games, inflatable fun, a mini indoor planetarium, donkey rides, pets' corner, treasure hunts, trampoline fun, baby corner & beach and much more. Come on down and give us a go. It’s a free day of fun for the whole family and you get to take away vouchers for your youngsters to come back and try out a whole range of educational, fun and social activities at the centre. Dont forget to bring your suncream, hats and a lunch box and spend the whole afternoon with us.

Organised by: The Danson Centre

Open to public/invite only: Open to public

Venue
The Danson Centre
Brampton Road
Bexleyheath
Kent
DA7 4EZ

WORLDCUP 2010

2010-07-16T17:38:00.000+02:00

Congratulations to June who won the Chrysalis office World Cup Sweepstake with Spain, drinks are on you !

TRAINING EVENT

2010-07-02T16:00:00.000+02:00

CC Foster Carers don't forget :
Child Protection - Safe Caring & Allegations
training course @ Kings House, Bexleyheath

Any Foster Carers not attending and would like to
please call Karen at the office on 0208 298 2800

2010-06-16T11:54:00.000+02:00

CONGRATULATIONS to Samuel our Butterfly Competition Winner

Well Done Samuel

This is a great Opportunity !

2010-05-21T17:56:00.000+02:00

We are looking for two motivated people

who pride themselves on high standards of work, focusing on supporting foster carers and improving the lives of children and young people.

Chrysalis Care, an ‘Outstanding’ Independent Fostering Provider, is looking for two Qualified Social Workers/Senior Practitioners to join the team based in Bexleyheath. You will enjoy working with an agency which puts quality of service as its number one priority.

Salary - £26,000 - £35,500pa
Excellent Administrative Support
Manageable Work Load
Good Training Opportunities
Good Supervision
Pension Scheme
Private Medical Cover
Car/Car Allowance

Please call 0208 298 2801 for an application pack

2010-05-12T14:33:00.000+02:00

CHRYSALIS FOSTER CARERS FUN DAY come and join us at our family fun day. We would

love to see you all there. Don't forget to bring a picnic and a pair of football boots !!

Activities Include:

Bouncy Castle, face painting . . . . . .

games and much more . . . . . .

For more info please refer to your recent flyer !!

Any other queries please contact either Jo or Richard .........