families wanted

[Mel]

As this forum's resident foster carer can I flag up the Families Wanted campaign that is being fronted by the Beeb. We are short of 10,000 foster carers nationally and there are many children waiting for foster families. Lots of people can become foster carers, you can be married single or cohabiting, employed or not, homeowner or renting. Its challenging but very rewarding. We love it. If you think you can do something look at the BBC website or contact your local social services. Feel free to ask me if I can help with some info.

 

[Diane1]

Hi Mel, Not knocking foster carers as they do a grand job, but just thought you should know about this. I can't have any more children so we decided to go down the foster care/adoption route. Phones local social services, filled in the forms,Had a home visit, got chatting and because i have an NVQ Level 3 in care it seemed ideal. They loved the fact that we have four grown up daughters and we both work part time and were under 50.

Then it got round to the subject of dogs... Your dogs are so lovely say the social worker, "What breed are they?" I replied as she was fussing max, "That one in the kitchen is a fox hound X and the one there is a Pedigree Rottwieler". Oh i see she replied, well because of the sort of dog he is we will have to have him assessed by a vet! And to top it all she could'nt get out of the house quick enough. WE could give a family a loveing stable life, be in tempory or permenant. Because of our dog we were discriminated against.

 

[Viking1]

Hi Diane

There are other ways that you can look kids.

Like to give a family a rest if they have a disable child the best bit is that you do not have them all the time.

Mark

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Hi Mel, Not knocking foster carers as they do a grand job, but just thought you should know about this. I can't have any more children so we decided to go down the foster care/adoption route. Phones local social services, filled in the forms,Had a home visit, got chatting and because i have an NVQ Level 3 in care it seemed ideal. They loved the fact that we have four grown up daughters and we both work part time and were under 50.

Then it got round to the subject of dogs... Your dogs are so lovely say the social worker, "What breed are they?" I replied as she was fussing max, "That one in the kitchen is a fox hound X and the one there is a Pedigree Rottwieler". Oh i see she replied, well because of the sort of dog he is we will have to have him assessed by a vet! And to top it all she could'nt get out of the house quick enough. WE could give a family a loveing stable life, be in tempory or permenant. Because of our dog we were discriminated against.

Sorry Diane, although I'm a dog owner I have to agree with the Social Worker on this one. Imagine if your dog did turn, and theres no dog owner on this earth can honestly say their dog wouldn't. Anything could trigger a dog off to bite and a Rotties bite is a bit different to a Yorkie. If it did bite and attack the Social Worker would be down the road mumbling, out of a job.

 

[LMH]

Hi Diane

If I had been in your position and the social worker had said that to me, I would have written to the head of social services to clarify whether what the social worker said was true about your dogs.

I would have expected that sort of information to be in their information packs, similarily I would expect information about certain things which barr potential people as foster carers, such as a person being a convicted child abuser, or a person with convictions for abh, gbh etc.

Having had dealings with social workers in a previous job, well, no comment if you get my drift.

Lisa

 

[RiaandJames_374303418]

Well said Lisa.

Surely children get brought up in all sorts of homes, and it should be the same with fostered children.

Total respect here, but the last thing I would want is to take on someone elses children.

Those that are prepared to do that should not be bound by where they live or what pets they have.

Ria

 

[Diane1]

In the info pack it states thing like dogs help the children intagrate with family life better.

LB. Never heard of the rottwieler breed being named in the dangerous dogs act. And a little bit of info for you:- the dogs that are worst for bitting are no. 1 breed of the Lab family

 

[Diane1]

Sent before finishing then!

2/ Spaniels

3/ Yorkshire terriars.

Staffies and rotties come way way down the list!

No sorry guys i believe i was discrimated against because of my lovable big bear!

 

[Diane1]

Thanks Ria, people think we are bonkers after basically bring up four. As for them being some elses, Well i kind of did this with the older 2 as they Adrians from his first marriage. But as far i am concerned they are all mine.

I don't think people believe me when i say i love kids, They keep you young.

 

[LMH]

Diane

Is LB quoting the DDA?

It's p****** me off a bit to be honest, people making assumptions about certain breeds of dogs. My mother had a little fluffy and it was a bloody nasty little swine because it was treated like a baby, not a dog.

Lisa

 

[Diane1]

I have to agree with you lisa, I find the smaller the dog the more aggressive. Max has been taught from a puppy Teath on skin is a big no,no!I suspect you have taught yours the same?

What made me laugh was one min the social worker is telling me how beautiful he was and the next they wanted to assess his temprement

 

[Diane1]

Anything could trigger a dog off to bite and a Rotties bite is a bit different to a Yorkie.

Well yes a yorkie is more likely to do it for a start.

LB, Would you leave your dogs alone with your grand children? The reason i ask is yorkies are vicious when in a pack and i happen to know you have 3. I have a 7 year old niece, who i would never leave alone with either of my dogs.

I would however leave my daughters alone as they know how to control and use they key words.

 

[LMH]

Anything could trigger a dog off to bite and a Rotties bite is a bit different to a Yorkie.

Well yes a yorkie is more likely to do it for a start.

LB, Would you leave your dogs alone with your grand children? The reason i ask is yorkies are vicious when in a pack and i happen to know you have 3. I have a 7 year old niece, who i would never leave alone with either of my dogs.

I would however leave my daughters alone as they know how to control and use they key words.

I think he has Schnauzer's. - The same breed of dog which attacked my dog in a unprovoked attack when Gaylord was 10 months old. It was a large schnauzer. Although my Gaylord could have finished the fight, he never fought back. The irresponsible owner is lucky I didn't physically harm him (the man, not the dog).

That was the day I learnt how to stop a fight by cutting off a dogs air supply. Not nice.

Lisa

 

[RiaandJames_374303418]

I remenber working at a school where a child got bitten by another childs Golden (child friendly) Retriever. Our daughter when 5 had her hand savaged by a neighbours cat in Germany.

I'm never sure how some expect children to be protected from every day life. What is in a carers home has no bearing on what a child will come across next door,school, local park or crossing the road no matter how well the child is cared for.

I don't think you are mad Diane, you are to be admired!

I'll have my nieces and nephew for an extended autum half term holiday. It's great fun, but after ten days I will be pleased when my mum and them head back home and I'm free again.

Ria

 

[Parksy]

I remenber working at a school where a child got bitten by another childs Golden (child friendly) Retriever. Our daughter when 5 had her hand savaged by a neighbours cat in Germany.

I'm never sure how some expect children to be protected from every day life. What is in a carers home has no bearing on what a child will come across next door,school, local park or crossing the road no matter how well the child is cared for.

I don't think you are mad Diane, you are to be admired!

I'll have my nieces and nephew for an extended autum half term holiday. It's great fun, but after ten days I will be pleased when my mum and them head back home and I'm free again.

Ria

My ex wife and her husband were accepted as foster parents even though they had four dogs at the time. Two of the dogs were gi-normous greyhounds that they had rescued after the dogs retired from racing.

If I remember right the local authority turned them down, mainly I think because of the husbands patchy work record, but they were accepted by another agency and they became succesful foster parents.

T

 

[Parksy]

sorry , I caught the wrong button there, the above should have gone in the main forum.

 

[Mel]

Not quite the discussion I was expecting when I posted the topic, but you were not being singled out, Diane, when the Social worker asked for a vets report. Sadly there are tragedies where children are hurt by dogs, and social workers would argue that they are not trained to assess dog behaviour. We have a very docile mutt who had to be similarly checked; just as references on us and CRB checks were taken up; even our teenage children were checked out by a phone call to their school. We were volunteering to care for very vulnerable children so I would expect every possible check to be carried out. Just cos I say I am a nice kind person with a docile dog doesn't mean I am. You also need to remember that children who come into care have had very damaging experiences and can be cruel to animals, provoking the steadiest of breed. If it was just the dog thing that put you off perhaps you off perhaps its time for a rethink.

Mel

 

[Diane1]

NO mel,Not the dog thing but the total attitude of the social worker. In my previous career i worked with adults with mental physical and behavioural difficulties. I have had numerous police checks as by law you have to have them every 5 years.

I have NVQ Level 3 in care i have NVQ level 2 in care.

I have alove of children, but was made to feel unsuitable because of my dog.

I have a large house and only work part time as does my hubby, when she left she said she would be in touch, that was Febuary.

Makes you wonder. I am not knocking you or other foster carers as i said you do a grand job, but the point i am making is how can we go from ideal to unsuitable in less than 1 min.

 

[robin_374227834]

been down the Foster carer route, done that!

we both smoke so it's apparently a no no!

ah well we did try!

 

[Mel]

Ah, the attitude of the social worker, now that i understand. We have worked with a number of social workers, some of whom have been excellent and others ...well. We had one who on his first visit spent the whole time with a bored expression looking at his watch. If you talk to other foster carers they will spend more time complaining about the social workers than they will about the children. I do understand, a bit, they are horrendously overworked, but sometimes I could tear my (or their) hair out. Never mind, I do it for the benefit of the child not the social worker. Sorry you had such an unpleasant experience it sounds as if you would be an asset to fostering.

Mel

 

[Diane1]

So do you think i should get back in touch then. We have an awful lot to give?

 

[Mel]

You have to decide what is right for you. I would say don't be put off by social workers, do it if you feel it is right for you, then grit your teeth and develop a thick skin. Clarify their dog policy at the outset. There are two routes; one is to foster for your or a neighbouring social services. The other is to foster for an independent agency such as FCA. The independent agencies pay lots more as you will actually get a fee. FCA for example pay c

 

[Viking1]

We to have had good and bad social workers one of them that we had was just calling to get away form work early as we was on the way home for her.

We have now seem to have a good one now but it has tuck use 5 years to get so help but one of the care has not been for 3 mouths now and we are still waiting for the social work to sort thing out.

Mark