Service User Perspectives: A positive foster care experience
Learning Objectives
After considering this resource, you should have an insight into the positive impact that fostering can have on a child's life.
Colin was on the at risk register from a very young age due to his mother's learning disabilities. He came into care at the age of eight, and spent time in a number of different children's homes and foster homes. In this video, he talks about his happiest placement and what made it so. He also speaks about how he has come to terms with his experiences of care more recently.
Between August 2012 and August 2013 the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) co-ordinated a project to record video oral histories of people whose lives have been affected by experiences in residential and foster care. Four volunteer interviewers, themselves formerly in care, were trained in oral history interviewing techniques and conducted the interviews. This video is an extract taken from a fuller interview with Colin now lodged with the British Library.
To find out more about the Care Leavers' Stories Project and to view further films visit www.scie.org.uk/socialcaretv.
Reflective Questions
- Colin talks about the regret he might have felt had he not been placed with the foster family he was happiest with as a teenager. What aspects of childhood is he referring to here and how far does his view tally with your own idea of a 'happy childhood'?
- As a service user, Colin was asked what kind of foster placement he would like but his wishes weren't reflected in the placement he was given. What was going on here, do you think, and how problematic is it?
- How would you explain the emotional detachment Colin describes in the last section of the video? What typically might be the catalysts or conditions for processing early life experiences such as Colin's?