Foster carers interested in finding out more about therapeutic caring will benefit from our series on the Secure Base model. This provides the framework our professionals use to assess and monitor Foster care settings and identify what tailored support will be needed. The series looks at areas that include the caregiving cycle, dimensions of caregiving, attachment and resilience concepts and applying Secure Base principles.

A child who has come into care having been traumatised by their experiences will have a severely limited capacity to trust. Work on restoring this is a priority. A child’s capacity to trust is best developed in a secure context. This means having a caregiver who will be emotionally and physically available. The Secure Base model defines the issue of trust by focusing on the capacity of a child to seek comfort when anxious or distressed. At such moments, a child must be able to trust that the foster carer will be available and emotionally responsive. Only then will they be able to go back to play and exploration of their environment. 

Foster carers should be aware of secure and insecure attachment.

Thinking about secure and insecure attachment patterns can help a foster carer to understand how a child behaves when they are stressed or upset. This relies on recognising patterns in behaviour and understanding a child’s coping strategies. It is also important to appreciate how a foster carer may themselves be responding to a child’s coping strategies. The carers response should be to support feelings of greater security not reinforce insecurity.

To aid a wider understanding it is worth drawing the distinction between and allowing a comparison between securely attached children and insecurely attached children. The former will have a natural capacity to use the foster carer as a secure base. The caregiver can be relied upon to provide support, reassurance and comfort when a child is presented with difficulties. This availability enables the child to quickly return to the normal patterns of developmental behaviour – play and exploration. An example would be how a toddler might play contentedly at a distance from the foster carer, but look back or speak to them to be reassured they are still there. If, however, a child hurts him/herself they will immediately run to the carer for comfort. This quality of exploration – inquisitive, relaxed, absorbed – is significant in this context. The comfort-seeking a secure child engages in is a means to an end. And this is to minimise anxiety and restore a sense of equilibrium so the child can resume play and exploration. 

The situation for insecurely attached children is quite different. They will display avoidant attachment patterns meaning they are less able to use the foster carer as a secure base. This means that when they encounter difficulty, they may try to be self-reliant. Here the child is not avoiding a relationship with the foster carer but instead avoiding displays of emotion. And most especially negative emotion. This is done to prevent stress being caused to the caregiver as well as maintain a kind of physical proximity. It may seem the child is well behaved – perhaps focusing on toys or activities instead of seeking comfort. they may give the appearance of being unaffected by difficult events. It is easy to mistake such behaviour as evidence of resilience or having no attachment. The truth is they may be in a highly anxious state but their learned strategy is to minimise attachment behaviour. This is because they lack trust in the response they might get. 

Therapeutic fostering with Rainbow.

We recruit and train specialist foster carers to deliver therapeutic care base on the principles of the Secure Base model. This enables them to specifically look after children and young people who have experienced trauma meaning they cannot remain living with their families. Because of the trauma they have suffered many of the children we care for have a range of needs and can exhibit challenging patterns of behaviour. Through our training and close support, our therapeutic foster carers are fully prepared to meet the challenges such children present. Our carers are offered extensive, tailored support packages enabling them to help children to recover and make the progress needed to lead a fulfilling life. 

It is our hope you will want to join us when you learn the difference you could make. Call 0330 311 2845 and find out more about the kind of person you could become!

There is an urgent shortage of fostering household in the UK. More and more children are being taken into care because of the effects of the lockdown. Fostering can mean providing a child with a future they would otherwise not have. 

Today’s recommended blog can be found at:

As children and young people have returned to nurseries, schools and universities, checking the latest advice and guidance to stay safe are imperative. Make sure you regularly 

visit – https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/coronavirus All our contact details and locations can be found at the link below. Once here, you will also be able to leave your contact details and arrange for a member of our team to call you back at a time to suit you. We look forward to hearing from you soon! Remember Hands, Face, Space. http://rainbowfostering.co.uk/contact/

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