Sponsored Editorial: Produced in association with Kent County Council

For anyone considering becoming a foster carer, the question 'Would you be willing to look after a child with special needs?' is usually asked.

Unfortunately, the reply is 'Oh no, I couldn’t look after a child with a disability'.

People can question do they know enough, understand enough, have the right skills and sufficient time to dedicate to a child - seeing the disability first and the child second, being all too aware of the challenges and not recognising the incredible rewards.

The idea of ‘disability’ and many of the misconceptions that accompany this label impacts on the fostering sectors ability to recruit foster carers for disabled children, and yet the label ‘disability’ is so broad that it offers no real measure of what the child is actually like and how a foster family might be able to meet their needs.

As a result, there is currently a significant need to recruit foster carers for disabled children in the county and it is part of Kent Fostering’s objectives to raise the profile of these children and highlight how loving, supportive, nurturing foster carers can change their lives; while addressing any pre-conceptions about what it’s like to care for a disabled child.

Children who have been removed from their parents' care need stability and permanence; and this is true for disabled children as it is for any child.

Kent Fostering provides care for the county’s most vulnerable children. Its dedicated Disabled Children’s Fostering Team focuses specifically on supporting children and young people in Kent with disabilities.

By joining the Disabled Children’s Fostering Team, you will be providing specialist care to Kent children, providing a safe, secure and loving home for those with complex needs, such as autism, physical impairment, learning difficulties or complex health needs.

Kent Fostering offers full time placements and short break care for children with disabilities who can no longer continue to live at home for whatever reason.

As the number of children coming into the care system continues to rise, the question of whether a prospective Foster Carer feels that they have the relevant skills and qualities needed to look after a child with special needs is becoming increasingly important. Carefully matching a child to our Foster Carers, their families, personal circumstances, and home environment is essential in making successful placements, which in turn provides much needed security and stability to a child in care.Without a successful matching process, relationships can become strained causing placements to break down, meaning that children are moved and suffer even more disruption to their often already traumatic lives.

Kent Fostering is looking to recruit individuals with strength of character, who can take on the demands of caring for a disabled child. This includes attending regular review meetings, medical appointments, maintaining records and advocating for the child to reach their potential.

For those considering fostering disabled children, who may not have specific experience of working with children or young people with special needs, you can be confident that having compassion, dedication, resilience, and the ability to provide a home where a child can feel secure and loved, are the foundations for you becoming an excellent foster carer.

There is no typical or ideal profile for a foster carer - the demographics are broad and can include single adults, couples or same sex partners. The service is currently recruiting people from all walks of life, including people from LGBTQ and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

Although for some, taking care of a child with disabilities may seem daunting, being a foster carer for a child with physical disabilities, medical conditions or learning difficulties is a hugely rewarding role.

All carers receive child specific training including feeding, toilet training and helping children to sleep, as well as assistance with medication and care routines.

Kent Fostering ensures that foster carers are given much needed respite breaks, giving them the opportunity to rest from the daily routines and the additional demands of looking after a disabled child.

The service is also looking to recruit foster carers for short breaks, offering a child a regular short stay, usually monthly, to provide a child’s parents or long-term. This is an equally rewarding and exciting fostering role. Short break foster carers undergo the same fostering assessment process, as well as having access to the same training programme and support as other Foster Carers.

Colin and Alison Burgess joined the Kent Fostering’s Disabled Children’s Fostering Team in 2011 and are currently caring for their fourth foster child who has lived with the couple permanently since 2017.

Colin said, “Alison has always worked with children, having initially trained as a nursery nurse, and before becoming a foster carer she worked as a physiotherapy assistant in a local school for children with special needs.

"Taking up fostering meant that she could continue to work in the field that she enjoyed whilst having more time to support our youngest daughter who had become unwell. I worked for the NHS Ambulance Service for 27 years, initially as an ambulance paramedic before moving into managerial roles and we now share our fostering responsibilities as joint foster carers full time.

"We both love our work and particularly being able to contribute to the lives of disabled children and young people. Supporting and caring for children with disabilities brings some inevitable challenges and sometimes requires the provision of specialist equipment or adaptations to the home. However, Alison and I have found that the sense of satisfaction in helping them achieve their full potential far outweighs the challenges.”

As carers for Kent Fostering, including those looking after disabled children, receive supervision, training and support, access to 24-hour support, payment for skills to recognise training undertaken and carer’s skills and abilities, two weeks holiday payment per year, an allocated Foster Carer mentor during your first year of fostering, membership to FosterTalk and Kent Foster Care Association, support from Virtual School Kent, access to the Children and Young People's Council and participation in appreciation and activity days.

Payment is dependent on the individual child’s needs as well as the Foster Carer’s skills level, up to £610.60 per week.

Carol Akehurst, Disabled Children’s Fostering Team manager, said, “Nobody should discount themselves from fostering, we desperately need more people to foster children with both physical and learning disabilities.

"Our foster carers are essential in building better and brighter futures for hundreds of children across Kent. By providing a safe and stable home to a child with a disability, you will be giving a young person the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential and it may also be one of the most rewarding things you ever choose to do.

"Our children and young people are at the very heart of everything that we do, but we also ensure that our Foster Carers are valued and well cared by us too, if they are to do their very best work.”

To find out more about Kent Fostering and how you could become a foster carer, call 03000420 002 or visit www.kentfostering.co.uk for more information