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Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on fostering.

Fostering

Does your LA have rules regarding family photographs?

11 replies

freddiefrog · 21/01/2013 11:12

I personally think my LA have a lot more important things to worry about, but I was just wondering if this was something others have dealt with.

When we moved into this house 10 years ago we started hanging framed snapshots on one of our dining room walls. As the years have gone by we've added to it and the wall is now covered in photos - pics taken on holidays, birthdays, christmas, days out, etc, etc.

Previous placements have been much younger so we have had pics of them, they were up on the wall when they were here, and taken down and given to them when they left - social workers have always been happy with this

There are no pics of FC on the wall - our FC is older so never actually comes out anywhere with us, spends all her time with her own friends, spent Christmas with her family, etc, so there's never been an opportunity to take any photos of our FC.

My FC's social worker came to visit for the first time today and said that we had to take the pics down.

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Fosterangel · 21/01/2013 14:50

Our LA positively encourages us to take pics of our f/children as it is part of their life story work. We were, strangely I thought, told not to keep any of them when the f/c moves on but to give the all to the SW or fc to keep upon the fc moving on.

Of course the obvious was pointed out to the SW giving this info that the f/children often destroy photos when upset so these memories and life story information could be lost forever if foster carers do not keep at least a few photos safely stored.

Our LA did not budge and so our instructions currently are to take lots of photos etc but give them to the child or SW upon departure.

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CashmereHoodlum · 21/01/2013 15:01

Do you mean you were told to take the pictures of all other family members down?

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freddiefrog · 21/01/2013 15:17

He said he wanted all the family photos taken down.

In the past, we've taken pics, hung them up with all the other family ones, and then given them to the child when they've moved on.

This time, they don't want any family pics hung up - we're not allowed to have pics up of our FC, and because of that, they don't want any hung up.

It's not something we've come across before, in the past it's never been a problem

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CashmereHoodlum · 21/01/2013 15:51

I can understand how it might make the FC feel excluded, but did anything constructive come from the visit with the SW?

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TheFallenNinja · 21/01/2013 15:54

Did he give a reason?

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NigellaLawless · 21/01/2013 16:00

That is really odd!

I am a fostering link worker. I have had to talk to some FCarers about the fact there are no pics if the FChild up when there are lots if pics of there own children. But I would only recommend that they put up pics of the FChild, I would never recommend that they take down pics of their own children!

Was it the child's SW who said this? What does your link worker say about it? Not all of the SWs in case management positions really 'get' fostering. this may be one of those occasions where the link worker needs to give them a swift education!

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NigellaLawless · 21/01/2013 16:03

God could there be anymore typos in my post!

Generally 'if' should be 'of' and 'there' should be 'their'

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LauriesFairyonthetreeeatsCake · 21/01/2013 16:09

Bit odd there isn't one of the FC you can put up

But I would just say no to the social worker - you add to things over the years and part of it is giving a child a real family experience.

Actually, I think it's important to say no if there's no real reason.

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freddiefrog · 21/01/2013 20:54

Our FC is 16, and literally never comes anywhere with us where there might be an opportunity to take pics. She wasn't with us over Christmas, even stuff like pics in the snow over the weekend - she was off out with her own friends. I've asked her if she has any pics, or if I can take a couple but she's not up for it. She's not really been with us that long, so as time went by it would have been added to as the opportunities arose

But, SW said that even if we had pics, we couldn't put them up anyway.

He had come to see our FC but she refused to stay in and see him

Our SSW has seen the pics, and have other SWs and everyone has been fine with them previously

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lovesmileandlaugh · 23/01/2013 11:38

Hi Freddie,

Is this the same SW you've complained about? Are they being difficult to distract from how dreadful they have been?

How are things going?

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freddiefrog · 23/01/2013 16:49

Yes, it is the same one. He was also really put out that FC had gone out rather than stay in to see him - he arrived over an hour late and had literally missed her by seconds, so just came in and picked holes in everything.

We were supposed to have a Professionals Meeting on Friday but it got cancelled because of the snow, we had it this afternoon and it was really positive.

Social Services had called it but hadn't invited anyone they should have done so our SSW contacted everyone instead, much to SW's disgust, who then got caught out barefaced lying on several occasions. All very positive with everyone else though, fc has now been transferred to a proper LAC team so we wont have any more dealings with this particular SW, and our notice remains on hold for now. We'll see what happens over the next few weeks.