Foster carers can find out more about therapeutic caring from our series on the Secure Base model. Rainbow use this framework enabling our professionals to assess and monitor Foster care settings. They can then identify what tailored therapeutic foster care support is needed. The series explores a wide range of areas. These include the caregiving cycle, dimensions of caregiving, attachment and resilience concepts and applying Secure Base model principles.

Foster care: the Secure Base model.

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 these moments, a child must be able to trust the foster carer will be available and emotionally responsive. Only then will they feel confident to go back to play and exploration. Such behaviours are strongly linked to concepts of availability and trust and how these are experienced by a child. In the previous blog, we looked at the difference between securely attached Children and those that are insecurely attached. This latter group can also include children said to demonstrate ambivalent attachment patterns as well as disorganised attachment patterns. 

Ambivalent attachment.

Such children have learned that to get their needs met they need to exhibit their emotions and make constant demands on the foster carer. This is done to capture and maintain the caregiver’s attention as well as their availability. When upset or confronted by difficulty these children will tend to retreat to the foster carer. Their behaviour may become ‘clinging’ much of the time. Such behaviour prevents them from engaging in play and exploration. This is a brake on their learning and development. These children are not able to move away from their foster carer with any confidence. This is because they do not trust that the foster carer will still be there for them if they do so. This ambivalence can result in extremely demanding behaviour. Typically, it is characterised by switches between the extremes of ‘neediness’ and anger. This can frequently lead on to hopeless and helpless behaviour with ‘neediness’ being the dominant emotion being expressed.

Disorganised attachment.

Children exhibiting disorganised attachment patterns who may have been subject to frightened or frightening parenting have a real dilemma. They have to think about how they can approach someone for comfort worrying that their anxiety will either be raised not reduced. Very young children and infants in this situation do not have an effective strategy to get comfort. This leads to them often displaying confused and confusing behaviour. This can result in them ‘freezing’ in the presence the foster carer or making an approach that is then discontinued. Older children with disorganised attachment patterns will employ a number of behavioural strategies intended to exert control over the foster carer. They are aimed at making their environment more predictable. Behaviour can range from compulsive self-reliance, punitive aggression as well as compulsive care-giving. Because these behaviours can start developing in the pre-school years, interpreting what a child or young person is feeling and thinking can be difficult. These are more extreme behaviours in a child with disorganised attachment. If less stressed, a child’s behaviour is likely to be more consistent with either ambivalent or avoidant patterns of behaviour and their accompanying strategies. 

Foster carers strengths in availability and promoting trust.

Plenty of physical time should be made available to focus on the child; time also to reflect on a child’s needs and build up trust – as well as considering how they as a foster carer can assist a child to build trust; ensuring ‘emotional time and space’ taking care to not be preoccupied with their own feelings and any unmet needs; always being alert to the signals of a child’s needs and the signs of upset or distress. 

Foster carers problems with availability and promoting trust.

This could involve a simple lack of time and energy; a caregiver might at times feel overwhelmed by a child’s demands and needs; a foster carers own unmet needs – past and present – perhaps gaining precedence; a caregiver distancing themselves from the child; a foster carer beginning to feel marginalised by a child; a caregiver not believing that a child warrants that much attention. 

Foster with confidence at Rainbow.

People have many misconceptions as well as questions about foster care. If your current search covers fostering agencies near me; best foster care agencies; top 10 fostering agencies; foster carer pay; types of fostering; cost of fostering a child or what disqualifies you from being a foster parent uk, we can help with answers to all these issues. First, it’s worth being exact about

why some children need to be fostered – the leading charity, The Fostering Network provides a comprehensive answer: 

“The reasons children come into foster care vary widely, including a parent’s short-term illness or another temporary problem within the family. Some children may have witnessed domestic violence or a parent’s depression or drug or alcohol misuse. Others may have been abused or neglected. Each child’s circumstances and needs are unique. When the decision is made to take a child into care, the local authority (in England, Scotland and Wales – health and social care trust in Northern Ireland) becomes responsible for his or her welfare. Social workers  work with foster families  to make the home a safe place for a child, with the aim that children and parents can be reunited if possible.”

Therapeutic fostering careers with Rainbow.

We have been rated ‘Outstanding in all areas’ by Ofsted. Part of this is to do with our understanding that children in our fostering service presenting with complex needs may not fit into a mainstream family setting. This means our approach to recruitment, matching and placement support will differ. Stability and the right kind of care is what matters most to these children. Rainbow offers the kind of specialist placements that provide this. When settled, they can begin to deal with their negative experiences and start to trust adults again. 

Therapeutic fostering requires skill and dedication so we promise great pay and prospects for anyone planning a career in therapeutic foster care. Here, at Rainbow we look after children for whom a return to their birth family is not possible. A growing number of children placed with us have a higher level of need. This means that mainstream fostering placements are not suitable. These children are likely to have experienced multiple traumatic events. Such experiences will have affected their behaviour and development.

The support offered by Rainbow is always tailored to work best for the individual child and foster family. We go beyond just 24/7 telephone support and aim to give our carers a unique experience with a feeling of solidarity – the knowledge and reassurance they are never alone in their task.

Call 0330 311 2845 to find out how to start your fostering journey with us. To foster you need a spare room, be over 21 and be in reasonable health. Whatever your ethnicity, cultural heritage, relationship status or sexual orientation we will welcome you to our vibrant fostering community.

And supporting Anti Bullying this week and #OddSocksDay we recommended the following blog which 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/ Rainbow keeping the focus on fostering.

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