Is my social worker part of my support network?
Your social worker is not part of your support network the way that friends and family are, and cannot provide the same emotional support. But they are certainly there to help you and the placement succeed! Sophie Offord explains how...
The preparation and assessment stages can be a hard slog to get through – but one of the reasons why they’re so important is that your agency will use this opportunity to pinpoint financial or practical areas in which you might need extra help once a child joins you. This is why many agencies prefer to work with families within a 50-mile radius, so they are better able to meet with the family and monitor their needs.
Support for adopters can include anything from financial support (means-tested), counselling or therapy, training, short break care, and access to self-help groups, such as Adoption UK. Obviously your and the child’s needs may change over time, and your agency is legally obliged, if requested, to assess your support needs at any stage during the adopted person’s childhood.
Your friends and family may also need support. Local authorities have an Adoption Support Services Adviser (ASSA), who can provide advice to people affected by adoption and signpost appropriate services. Why not approach your local authority to ask?
A wide range of ongoing support is available for permanent foster carers too. You will receive a fostering allowance, and may also receive a fee for your work, depending on the agency. Besides financial support, you will receive regular visits from your social worker, even once you have been matched with a child, to see how you and the child are progressing. Agencies must also have an out-of-hours support service. Your situation will be reviewed every year to identify areas in which you may benefit from further training, as well as possible extra support for your child, such as therapy or adaptations to your home.
However your agency can best support you, it is important to remember that accepting help is not a sign of weakness! Your social worker is there to offer you information and advice – and enable you to meet your child’s needs.
For more information, see:
Every Child Matters website: adoption information
Every Child Matters website: fostering information
Originally published in the Be My Parent newspaper in July 2009.
This article is published with the kind permission of the people involved. You may download it for your own reference but if you wish to use it for any other purpose, please contact Be My Parent for authorisation: Be My Parent, BAAF, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Telephone: 020 7421 2666.
Last updated: 02 July 09
