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Foster carers to appreciate children’s environmental worries

Foster Carers will be familiar – like all parents – with the usual anxieties that children have on their journey through adolescence to adulthood. In the past, these have been fairly standard: worries about appearance, attractiveness, school work, and exams. This is not to downplay any of these concerns. Any Foster carer can testify to just how debilitating anxiety about any of these issues can be. We have to be aware that youngsters now are having to deal with not just these worries, but fears about the environment and climate change in particular. And these seem to have been growing significantly over the period of the pandemic. This is hardly surprising since we have all been enduring an unprecedented experience. Normal day-to-day life has been turned upside down by a series of lockdowns. It has been a very different and frightening world. Children will have seen their parents, or Foster Carers if they are being fostered, have had to cope with a novel set of pressures. Tragically, some children will have experienced the loss of a family member. This means many have been trapped in a climate of general anxiety – just as fears over climate change are escalating worldwide. This is a toxic mix. Foster carers have to support and care for children who are already vulnerable. Their fears and insecurities are now being compounded by the twin impacts of the health and climate crises. These effects are now being measured. We now have the term eco-anxiety to add to the lexicon. It was reported at the end of last year by more than half of child and adolescent psychiatrists in England were seeing patients anxious about the state of the environment.

Foster carers must understand the anxieties children have.

This recent survey revealed findings that worries about the climate are affecting the mental health of young people. According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the levels of eco-anxiety found were significantly higher among the young as opposed to the general population. Foster carers – and other parents might like to know that the Royal College of Psychiatrists has produced resources aimed at helping children – including those in foster care – and their parents deal with fears about environmental degradation. The chair of the Faculty of Child and Adolescent at the RCP, Bernadka Dubicka, feels young people are growing up against a backdrop of fear and anxiety rooted in worries about the future of the planet. Combined with pressures from social media, Covid-19, and unemployment, a heavy toll on the mental health of the young is being exacted. She stated: “In recent years, a whole new set of issues has emerged. These are all things young people have to contend with, things that affect their futures.”

In a survey of its members employed in the NHS conducted by the RCP, they were asked: “In the last year have you seen patients who are distressed about environmental and ecological issues?” And among child and adolescent psychiatrists in England, 57.3% answered in the affirmative. This was almost 10 points higher than among respondents dealing with all age groups, at 47.9%. Bernadka Dubicka accepted that concerns about the environment were normal amongst young people but was worried that taken to extremes, other mental health issues might be exacerbated. Parents and foster carers should note her advice: 

“We don’t want to pathologize a normal response. But eco-anxiety can develop into something unhealthy. If a child already has mental health issues, this may compound some of those worries and anxieties. If a parent sees changes in a child, for example, more withdrawn, not sleeping or eating, it is important they seek help.” The problem for foster carers is that problems with the environment are rarely out of the news. And today, April 22nd sees the annual celebration – Earth Day – an international day of environmental action drawing in an estimated one billion people – making it the largest secular observance in the world. 

Jenny Thatcher, youth programme lead at Friends of the Earth, said her organisations had detected an increase in environmental awareness – as well as concern among young people. And Paul Hoggett, the editor of Climate Psychology observes that whilst climate worries are lower among older less educated people, they are high on the agenda of young people. Hoggett says: “Climate change and environmental destruction threatens us with powerful feelings – loss, guilt, anxiety, shame, despair – that are difficult to beat and mobilise defences such as denial and distortion, which can undermine our capacity to get to grips with the issue.”

How should foster carers and parents respond?

It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of all the headlines about the climate crisis. It’s important to open up a conversation with young people. A good approach is to frame it in terms of challenge and opportunity. On another level, it is a chance for foster carers to engage with young people on a topic they are likely to be interested in. There are positive points to make: all families can make changes to daily life that will help protect the planet. That could mean taking fewer flights, turning lights off, walking instead of always taking the car, rewilding, planting flowers that encourage bees and other insects into gardens, eating meat no more than twice a week and even showering instead of bathing. Children are quite naturally anxious about climate change but if they can be encouraged to take action in their own lives, they will feel more positive. Taking action leads to a sense of personal empowerment. This means there is a lot that foster families can do together.

Moving forward, foster carers and parents should inform themselves about climate change. There are many alarmist stories circulating on social media which are often exaggerated. These can be countered with positive news stories about what different countries are doing to cut harmful emissions. This is important as this is a news story that is going to be with us for years.

Rainbow Fostering has fostering opportunities in London, Birmingham, and Manchester.

If you can offer a safe, nurturing, and stable home environment for a vulnerable child or young person, then we have many opportunities to offer you at Rainbow Fostering. Currently, we’re searching for more new foster carers. If you think you’ve got what it takes to help a child build their essential life skills and fulfill their potential, we’d like to hear from you. 

Our foster carers come from an amazing and varied range of backgrounds. We celebrate that – as well as the diversity of our foster carers. 

How to contact Rainbow Fostering.

If you have a spare room and are really motivated to support a child into adulthood, then we can promise you a rich and varied career as a foster carer. Please take the time to visit our website to find out more about the different types of fostering. You can also apply on our website and arrange a time for us to talk to you. We can also email you our information packs about fostering – or send one of our newsletters to give you a picture of what it’s like to be a Rainbow foster carer. 

Call 0330 311 2845 and we can start your application today.

Rainbow: rated ‘Outstanding in all areas by Ofsted’ arranges well-matched foster care for categories that include – siblings, teenagers, Parent and Child, and asylum-seeking children. Rainbow has been one of the leading independent fostering agencies for well over two decades. 

Remember, there’s no obligation if you contact us – just the chance for a friendly, informative chat. At  Rainbow we strive to provide a wide range of interesting and thought-provoking content about fostering: try this recommended blog:

Therapeutic foster care: Secure Base model and ‘Belonging’ 7

And keep up-to-date with the latest guidance on coronavirus as the lockdown eases. https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/coronavirus All the contact details and for Rainbow Fostering Services can be found at http://rainbowfostering.co.uk/contact/

Rainbow keeping the focus on fostering

The post Foster carers to appreciate children’s environmental worries appeared first on Rainbow.



This post first appeared on Fostering Agency London, please read the originial post: here

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