Seldom Heard Forum- Adoption and Fostering
The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members” Mahatma Gandhi
The 4th of October marked the seventh ARC NWC Seldom Heard forum which centered around adoption and fostering.
The number of looked after children is growing faster than the UK child population as a whole, and in the UK, there are currently 87,190 children in care and 57,540 of those are in foster care.
ARC NWC Patient and Public engagement academic lead, Dr Paula Byrne opened the forum with a brief overview of the inequalities in care and adoption and fostering in the UK and provided a current depiction of social care whilst drawing on her lived experience as a foster carer for teenagers.
Approximately 36,000 children and young people will enter the care system in 2023 and
Paula highlighted research suggests that, “In 2022, Children aged over 5, male, from an Ethnic Minority (excludes White minorities) background, with a disability and in a sibling, group were less likely to be adopted.”
Following Paula guest speaker Tracey Patton, who is an adoptive parent created a network for adoptive parents in the Wirral and Surrounding areas called ‘Together 2 Thrive,’ after feeling that there is a lack for support of those who have adopted children in the North West.
ARC NWC Public Adviser and Family court magistrate Naheed Tahir provided an emotional account of being fostered in her early years and also how being adopted at an early age has impacted her life and wellbeing.
Naheed highlighted that throughout her earlier life she had felt isolated, abandoned and at times questioned her identity. “Every point on this page (image below) at one time I did or felt at one time or another, I acted out, I had trouble fitting in and I felt culturally different”.
Naheed’s experiences have guided her in to family law, “My job as a magistrate is my calling, a vocation if you wish, and my experience has led and allowed me to try to protect children and be a voice of the child.”
Then Public Adviser Sandra Smith provided an overview of her lived experience of fostering and adoption.
“You are given no time to prepare and you may be told by Police at 9pm ‘We are going to do a drug raid on a house and will be with you with a thirteen year old child at three in the morning.’
Then you can be stood down if you aren’t needed after preparing in the short time you have day, you will never have enough time to prepare anyway or a child will be on your doorstep waiting for you to bring them in after they have been taken from their birth parents and home. It really is a roller coaster of emotions.
I have had young people tell me that I have enabled their Integration in to society. I believe It is about me learning and giving something back, I learn as much from them as they do from me.”
Phil Watson represented ARC NWC member organisation Liverpool City Council as part of their Fostering Team and gave an honest and emotive account of the fostering process from his perspective.
Phil who has recently joined ARC NWC as a public adviser said, “We had one little boy who was 3 and a half he didn’t know what cooked food was, he did not know how to use a cup when he would lay down at tonight he would put his coat over him to go to sleep as he did not know what a blanket was.
By the time the social worker came to visit, he had a favourite cup, a favourite tea and a favourite blanket.”
Laura Machin from the University of Lancaster is researching the mental health needs of adoptive parents. Laura’s research asks the question are adopters voices being heard?
Laura spoke about a lack of data in the UK about adoption disruption and the lack of pre placement preparation and post placement support are key to stop the breakdown of the adoption process.
Our ARC NWC Public Involvement Manager, Selina Wallis said “This has been a very emotive yet inspirational event, hearing from a seldom heard community of those that care for looked after children, which we will definitely build on. From mental health and support systems to research ethics, we have covered a range of topics which we are going to revisit in the future, as we want to ensure these voices are shared with our researchers and members and acted upon.”
You can view the forum here.
You can view Phil’s pre-recorded presentation here.
