Focus Group: Safer Caring & Allegations

Safer Caring has two functions, one, it to help keep all household members, including the foster children safe and two, it helps reduce the possibility of allegations. Foster children feeling safe is supported by understanding how the foster family lives day-to-day. How do you do things in this family? How do I know, as a child, that you will not hit me when you are angry? How do I know when to enter a room and when not to? Should I kiss you goodnight?

Allegations, an allegation is when a child raises a concern that they may have been harmed through ‘maltreatment’. But what is maltreatment? And what can I do as a foster carer to ensure children are not maltreated. We will look at the categories of maltreatment, what each means and how we can foster in a way that reduces the likelihood of allegations. This is one of the most important aspects of fostering and warrants repeated training and exploration so that is becomes a regular part of everyday life.