A former foster child turned long-term carer has welcomed a new digital platform that is changing how children are introduced to foster families across Wales.
Launched by Foster Wales, The Big Welcome was created to give children the chance to view personalised profiles of their future foster carers, before they move in with them. The profiles are comprised of details about the household, pets, hobbies and a picture of the child’s new bedroom.
The initiative was piloted last year and is now set to be rolled out nationally. So far, nearly 600 foster carers have registered, including Amy Davies, who entered care at 11-years-old and has been fostering for over two decades. She said the tool could have made a huge difference during her own childhood.
Pictured: Amy Davies and her husband Gavin
‘When I was younger and going into foster care, I think if I was able to have a look at who I was about to meet it would have made me feel less anxious,’ Amy explained. ‘I was usually quite anxious about who they were or what they were like, but seeing a profile helps to take away a bit of that fear of the unknown.’
Amy started fostering at 21, when she looked after her young sister as a kingship carer, and has now been doing it for 23 years. Her and her husband, Gavin, mainly care for older children.
‘It’s important they feel like they matter, that someone is on their side,’ Amy continued. ‘You sometimes have to go back to basics with them and almost teach them how to be loved.’
Developed by charity Action for Children and social innovation agency Super Being Labs, the platform was moulded through a number of workshops and interviews with 75 foster carers and 120 care-experienced young people, including Em Hattersley. Em spent time in foster care as a teenager, having experienced periods of homelessness from the age of 13. Now 29, she works for Cardiff University on the Confident Futures project supporting young care experienced people like herself.
Pictured: Emily Hattersley at Cardiff University
Em said: ‘When I was going through my experience with foster care I was given minimal information about the people I was going to live with and it’s really hard to digest that.
But The Big Welcome creates trust. Their whole world has already turned upside down and just to be able to see their new room would help that anxiety. I have got a seven-year-old now and I know the value of visual storytelling for kids of a younger age.’
Image credit: Foster Wales
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