The truth about children and young people in foster care

Many misconceptions surround children and young people living in foster care. Not having the best start in life can lead to their peers, teachers and other non-care experienced people forming prejudices about who they are and who they can be.

This is why it’s so crucial that people, particularly foster carers, know and understand the truth about children that are living with foster families. Here are some tips from Beacon Fostering.

Being ‘troubled’

Foster children are often assumed to be troublemakers or ‘troubled’, often due to their unconventional circumstances, and are sometimes perceived as being noisy or uncooperative.

While they all have to deal with being separated from their biological families and living with strangers (with many moving between homes), they cope with their circumstances in different ways.

If they show frustration or anger, it’s often due to the aforementioned external circumstances and feeling that they cannot place their trust in adults and authority figures.

Additionally, neglect and abuse are not the only reasons why children end up in foster care; their parents might voluntarily place them in the system if they feel unfit to raise them, or one of both of a child’s parents may have passed away or been incarcerated.

Their needs and prospects

What children and young people in foster care are in need of is guidance and support to help them deal with their circumstances, rather than judgement of themselves and their situations.

Your fostering agency will signpost you to counselling or therapeutic services where your foster child can discuss and work through their feelings regarding their family origin, their foster family and how they feel about how their peers perceive them.