Therapeutic approach

At Action for Children Fostering, we provide safe, stable, supportive homes for children and young people who have a history of attachment disruption, abuse, neglect and trauma. We believe it is really important to ensure that our foster carers are fully equipped to deal with children in their care that may have complex needs as a result of trauma.

We aim to provide safe and stable homes, where young people feel listened to and trusted.

We believe that it is important to empower our foster carers, work collaboratively with them and involve them in decision-making, ensuring that they have the necessary resources and skills to meet the needs of the children and young people they care for.

With regard to the wider service, we aim to establish joint goals and a common understanding through open, transparent communication, to respect the views of others, and to ensure a learning culture and celebrate success.

By developing a shared understanding of the young person, we provide a tailored plan to support their needs and build upon their strengths. The children and young people that we support (age range 4-18 years) have often had life experiences resulting in:

• Developmental trauma
• Histories of attachment disruption
• Neglect
• Ongoing attachment/relational needs
• Trauma-related needs
• Executive functioning difficulties
• Vulnerability within relationships
• Social communication difficulties (e.g. Autistic Spectrum conditions)

Children and young people may present with a range of complex and high-risk behaviours including self-harm or suicidal behaviours, eating difficulties, shame behaviours (e.g. soiling, smearing), difficulties accessing/exclusion from educational settings, physical and verbal aggression, sexually disinhibited behaviours, and offending behaviours.