“When you think of a superhero most people would think of people that are superhuman, wear lycra or have superpowers. But these are all make believe and exist only on the cinema screens and in the pages of books. Real life superheroes are often cunningly disguised as regular people and they live amongst us.
The superheroes I’m talking about are our foster carers. If you are a foster carer and reading this you may think ‘I’m not a superhero, I’m just doing my job’ and if you are on the outside looking in, you may think ‘foster carers aren’t superheroes, they just look after kids don’t they?’.
WRONG!
Foster carers have enhanced strength to pick a young person up when they are at their lowest. They show their strength on a daily basis through resilience and because they keep going, never giving up.
So often young people find it difficult to put their feelings into words and this is where the foster carers’ mind-reading ability comes to the fore. They can tune into what is going on for their young person, picking up on the non-verbal cues they display.
Foster carers have the ability to create a protective forcefield around their young person to enable them to feel safe and secure.
360 degree vision is a skill that foster carers often develop fairly quickly. They can see what is going on at all times, keeping a close eye on their young people.
Like a reed in a strong wind, carers have elasticity built in. They bend but do not break. They are flexible in their parenting approach to suit the needs of their young person.
Foster carers wear bulletproof armour so the words (and sometimes unfortunately actions) of a young person will dent their exterior and bounce off. That’s not to say that the dents don’t hurt, of course they can, but foster carers have this extraordinary ability to absorb the impact and not let it penetrate to their core.
Foster Carers have a clever ability to be able to make their ‘foster carer’ status become invisible and just simply become mum and dad to their young people.
The amazing ability of having the power to heal can often be found in the foster carers’ arsenal. Not just putting a sticking plaster on a cut and dealing with physical injury but helping a child to heal from the past is a remarkable thing. Helping a child’s mind to heal and enable them to realise it was not their fault, they are worth it, and they deserve to be loved.”
Allison
Placements Officer, North East
If you can see yourself being a superhero for a young person, give us a call on 0800 292 2003 or leave your details here for a call back from our friendly recruitment team.