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managing the emotional impact of fostering on you and your family

  • Writer: Jeni
    Jeni
  • Apr 14
  • 2 min read

Fostering children is a rewarding job, but it has its challenges and we don't believe it's helpful to pretend otherwise. Particularly at the start and end of placements, emotions can run high for many different reasons.


If you're not a single carer, or if you have birth children at home whilst you foster, the emotional impact isn't just experienced by you. This post is about how you can manage the emotional impact of fostering on you, and also on any other family members in the home.


We are aiming for stability, and children don’t thrive if foster carers don’t feel supported. We want our foster carers to feel able to pass on their skills to help children achieve, which is a key factor of successful relationships. We support families so that they look after children well, and that’s where you get the good outcomes.


We also take time and care to match carefully, which can make all the difference to helping a foster carer succeed and a child to thrive. However, whilst there are many good days, there are often tricky ones, so here are some tips for managing the difficult emotions as they arise.


top tips for managing emotionally as foster carers

  • It's important, as foster carers, to use the visits with your supervising social worker to help you manage emotionally. Talk about what’s going well and what the challenges are. We would then look to take any supporting action, such as providing relevant training. asphaleia fostering benefits from being part of a wider organisation, specifically when it comes to mental health and emotional support, as foster carers and their familiy can instantly access our mental health support worker, who can support the foster carers and the birth children, so the birth children feel heard.


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  • We make a point of seeing and speaking with the birth children alone, even if they decline it we always give the opportunity for them to give their views. Irrelevant of their age, if they live in the house we would speak to them or offer to.

  • Pick up the phone or ask for a visit so we can prevent the little things from turning into big things. Our foster carers can speak to someone on the phone 24/7.

    Two people sit closely, focused on a smartphone. One holds a mug. The mood is relaxed. They wear teal and mustard tops. Blurred background.

  • Take time out, go for a walk, go and have a coffee somewhere else. Give yourself space and time to reflect. Usually you come back feeling refreshed and are able to find a way forward.

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  • People can pull in their own support using friends and family if it is safe to do so. It would just have to be in a child’s care plan. When a child is placed we would work with you on an individual safe care plan that would give you all the information to support you regarding when you could use family and friends to help.

  • Facilitate birth children to have time away or one-to-one time with their parents. Every child’s needs must be met not just the foster children’s.


If you want to learn more about this, or any other aspect of fostering at asphaleia, why not join our next information event and get your questions answered.


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