How a therapeutic approach to fostering makes all the difference

Many children in care have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). These experiences often leave a deep imprint that affects the way they see the world and cope with daily life; this is called trauma. 

Therapeutic foster parents provide the guidance, empathy, and understanding that children and young people need to recover from their trauma. Join us as we explore therapeutic foster care in more detail. Find out what it means, how it's applied, and the transformative effect it can have on children and young people in care. 

What is therapeutic foster care?

At Fostering People, many children in our care have endured abuse, neglect, or other challenging experiences in their early lives. 

When children move into a safe, stable and nurturing foster home, these experiences don't just disappear from their memories. They stay with them, affecting their emotions, behaviour, relationships, and development. Trauma can also have a lifelong impact on their physical and mental well-being, influencing the way they navigate the world now and in adulthood.  

Understanding trauma

When foster parents don't understand trauma and the impact it has on every aspect of a child's life, they may find a child's behaviour confusing and overlook the root cause. As a result, these children won't receive the guidance, understanding, and sense of emotional safety they need to heal. 

That's why therapeutic foster care is so important. It doesn't stick a plaster on trauma – it addresses the challenges faced by children and young people in care and guides them on their healing journey.

Therapeutic foster parents provide nurturing homes of compassion and understanding, collaborating with trauma-informed fostering professionals to ensure their child's entire well-being is cared for. 

By providing this foundation of therapeutic support, we help children recover from their experiences, build positive relationships, manage their emotions, and begin to rebuild their lives. 

What is a therapeutic approach? 

Therapeutic foster parents are trauma-informed, recognising the impact trauma can have on a child’s behaviour, relationships, emotions, and development. When you foster with Fostering People, you’ll apply a therapeutic parenting approach, which includes: 

Building a secure relationship

An essential part of a therapeutic approach to fostering is building a secure relationship with the child in your care. Children in care have often been let down by those they’ve trusted most, making it difficult for them to trust adults or believe that anyone has their best interests at heart. 

Trust is at the core of every secure relationship. So, the child in your care needs to know that you’ll consistently show up for them and do what you say you’ll do. It also means providing them with a safe space to share their thoughts and emotions without fear of judgment or retribution, helping them to feel valued and heard. 

Looking beyond behaviour

Another key feature of therapeutic fostering is viewing behaviour as a form of communication. Many children in care struggle to articulate their thoughts and feelings, so their behaviour becomes a window into their inner world and past experiences instead. 

During prolonged abuse and neglect, children often develop coping mechanisms to survive painful experiences. Trauma can also physically alter the brain as it adapts to survive in a threatening environment. This changes the way they behave and interact with other people. 

When children move into care, they may continue to use these survival behaviours without even realising it because they've become so deep-rooted. 

What is their behaviour telling me?

An example of a survival mechanism children may use is hypervigilance. Hypervigilant children are always on high alert, scanning their surroundings and absorbing sensory information to check for danger.

Although this may have helped them stay safe in the past, it can make day-to-day life difficult for them when they move into care. They may become overstimulated in particular environments, such as school, and interpret ordinary interactions as a potential threat. This can trigger their fight-or-flight response, affecting their behaviour as they react to the perceived danger. 

At Fostering People, we teach you to look at behaviour through a therapeutic lens. By paying attention and looking for patterns in a child's behaviour, you gain a deeper understanding of their triggers. You can then support them in developing new ways of responding now they're in a safe, stable, and nurturing home. 

Always learning and adapting

A therapeutic approach to fostering isn’t a quick-fix solution. Foster parents who use this approach are on a continuous learning journey, adapting to the child or young person’s ever-changing needs. 

At Fostering People, we make accessing therapeutic foster care training easy, offering a wide range of virtual and face-to-face training courses. When you join us, you’ll learn more about attachment theory and therapeutic parenting, and as time goes on, you’ll be able to access training specific to the needs of the child in your care.

All our foster parents receive training on PACE parenting, a therapeutic approach that stands for Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, and Empathy. PACE teaches you how to therapeutically interact with the child in your care, helping them build a positive attachment with you. By consistently using the principles of PACE, you can support children in learning new, healthier ways of coping with distressing thoughts and emotions.  

Working with other fostering professionals

Part of a therapeutic approach to fostering is recognising when you need support. Sometimes, children in foster care need therapeutic intervention, and when fostering teenagers, you may need help to support them through this turbulent time in their lives. 

Therapeutic fostering is a team effort, and at Fostering People, our support for foster parents and children means you are never alone. From regular meetings with your supervising social worker to dedicated support groups for new foster parents, our close-knit, supportive community will help you feel at home. 

We're here for you 24/7, and you’ll collaborate with our professional teams to help the child in your care thrive. We also organise local activities and events for the whole family to enjoy, giving every family member the opportunity to relax, make friends, and have fun.

Improving the outcomes of children in care

Children in care need more than just physical safety. They need adults to build them up and to show them that their past doesn't have to dictate their future. They need to experience positive relationships that help them trust again and show them that the world isn't as scary as they may have once thought. 

Therapeutic foster parents play a vital role in this process. By providing children with a sense of belonging, stability, and a space to heal and grow, they help pave the way for brighter, happier, and more fulfilling futures for children in care.

Want to learn more about becoming a therapeutic foster parent? Call us on 0800 077 8159 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our friendly team will be in touch.