Blue Sky Fostering

For Children Mental Health Week, we spoke with Author and Ted Talk speaker Catherine Knibbs to discuss how to connect with your young person in the digital space. With the digital world constantly evolving and parents & carers often feeling alien to this new environment, Catherine shares how to engage with your young person and protect them from online harm and trauma. Click the links below to find out more information and read more of Catherine work around cyber-trauma: Catherines Website: Children and Technology Polyvagal "motorway of wellness"- updated version with brain and body visuals. - YouTube ---- Find out more about Blue Sky Fostering Here: www.blueskyfostering.com Why not check out our Secret Foster Carer Blog here: https://blueskyfostering.blogspot.com All views and opinions within our podcast are that of the individual we talk to.

We are back with a new episode of the Blue Sky Fostering Podcast with the amazing actors from Alter Ego Creative Solutions after their recent performance at Blue Sky Fostering of Chelsea's Story. After the production, we caught up with some of the cast. We find out about the story of Chelsea, some of the technical elements of the production and how the team feel about performing it ‘Chelsea’s Story’ is our internationally renowned, hard-hitting Applied Theatre Production that has proven highly successful in raising awareness around the issues surrounding Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). The play, which has now been seen by hundreds of professionals and over 950,000 young people throughout the UK, is followed by an actor facilitated post-show talk exploring the issues raised. It tells the story of a group of three students who discover the diary of a girl called Chelsea. Chelsea was a 15 year old girl who, having fallen out with her friends and family, met a guy called Gary. Gary was kind, understanding, had a nice car, had his own flat and listened to her. Unfortunately, Gary was not what he seemed to be! Chelsea’s story is played out and examined by the three students who, along with their teacher, attempt to understand what happened to Chelsea" - AlterEgo website Find out more here: www.alteregocreativesolutions.co.uk/chelseas-story/ Interested in Fostering, check out www.blueskyfostering.com

We are joined by Dom, one of our Foster Carers here at Blue Sky Fostering, to talk about living and fostering, with Bi-Polar. Dom talks about his journey and his experiences For more information on Bi-Polar please visit: For more information on Fostering, please visit: www.blueskyfostering.com

Today we are joined by our co-host and Foster Carer, Dazz and teacher, trainer and consultant Mary-Anne Hodd Mary-anne is a teacher, trainer and consultant with lived experience of growing up in Foster Care. Mary-anne designed and proposed a Guarantor Scheme for care leavers in the Devon area and has been successfully campaigning to incite policy change on a wider scale, taking this to Local Authorities across the country. Mary-anne is passionate about using her unique perspective to...

Marcus Meets... Fiona Stephenson, Part 2! Marcus is joined with our special guest, Foster Carer, Fiona Stephenson! This is Fiona’s second appearance on Marcus Meets as we talk to her live on our Facebook page about her journey from being in assessment to becoming a Foster Carer and looking after young people! See Marcus Meets Fiona Part 1: https://youtu.be/JkYfv3XZsBA See more of Fiona's journey here, with Part 2 Video: https://youtu.be/zuPHuVwnL08 For more information on Fostering, please visit www.blueskyfostering.com Why not check out our Secret Foster Carer Blog here: https://blueskyfostering.blogspot.com Our Young Persons Voice blog can be found here: https://www.blueskyfostering.com/young-persons-voice/ The opinions of those within our podcast are that of the individual

This week we were joined by Foster Carer and Foster Wiki founder Sarah Anderson to talk about her unique, free to access guide for Foster Carers and those interested in fostering We talk about her journey into Fostering. How FosterWiki came to be and also what is required of the fostering community, to help it grow. FosterWiki is designed to help empower Foster Carers with knowledge, through examples and experiences of other Foster Carers. FosterWiki is a FREE knowledge repository with open access to all. Search the FosterWiki here for FREE. Visit the Foster Wiki Page Here: www.fosterwiki.com ---- Find out more about Blue Sky Fostering Here: www.blueskyfostering.com For more information on Fostering, please visit www.blueskyfostering.com Why not check out our Secret Foster Carer Blog here: https://blueskyfostering.blogspot.com Our Young Persons Voice blog can be found here: https://www.blueskyfostering.com/young-persons-voice/ All views and opinions within our podcast are that of the individual we talk to

Relive the ninth instalment of the Marcus Meets live event series! Marcus will be joined with a special guest, our Training & Participation Manager, Ed Thompson! This will be Ed’s second appearance on Marcus Meets as we talk to him live on our Facebook page about the Duke of Edinburgh Award! This is our first Marcus Meets which features host Marcus Reeves and his special guest in the same room! Our Marcus Meets events started during lockdown so potential Foster Carers can access information about Blue Sky without leaving their homes. If fostering is something you are thinking about and would like more information, please visit our website and www.blueskyfostering.com or call 0800 035 6499. All views and opinions within our podcast are that of the individual we talk to

On Tuesday 20th of July 2021 we were joined at Blue Sky Fostering, by Baroness Doreen Lawrence at our Diversity Forum, to talk about how w can help shape the world of tomorrow for our young people. Baroness Lawrence talks about the Stephen Lawrence Foundation and how to access and make use of the resources they have within it and many other issues, also reflecting on her time campaigning for change. More information can be found here: The Stephen Lawrence Foundation: https://stephenlawrenceday.org The Lawrence Review: The disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities - : https://www.lawrencereview.co.uk For more information on Fostering, please visit: www.blueskyfostering.co.uk

We are back and today joined by the inspirational Ian Thomas. Ian is a former looked after child who has gone on to be a role model for young people all across the country, through his work with NGO's, advocacy and Social Work. Ian talks to us about his life, his journey and what supported him along the way - even how as a young kid he was supported by the founder of Blue Sky, Simon - sat on the stairs in an office, who took the time to listen to him (and also sort him out with a bike which Ian said gave him focus and want to do something different) Ian will be running some training for us at Blue Sky in the coming months, so this is a great opportunity to listen to his insight ahead of this. Ian runs an amazing selection of training and learning and his links can be found below Social Media: Linked In- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-thomas-5b573a100 Twitter: @ian thomas Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ian.thomas.54922/ Media: Thomas, I. (2018) TEDx Talk, The Gift of Desperation. TEDx Birmingham City University. Thomas, I. (2021) Spoken Word for BASW World Social Work Month 2021‘We Are Social Workers’. Fostering For more information on Fostering, please visit www.blueskyfostering.com Why not check out our Secret Foster Carer Blog here: https://blueskyfostering.blogspot.com Our Young Persons Voice blog can be found here: https://www.blueskyfostering.com/young-persons-voice/ All views and opinions within our podcast are that of the individual we talk to

Blue Sky Fostering are the first and only IFA to provide the DofE award and we are incredibly proud of holding our own licence. We have been doing this now for almost 6 years and have had many successes along the way for the young people we care for. I was really lucky today to be joined by Hayley who we have worked with for almost this entire time and she is an Operations Manager at the Charity. So in our chat, we talk about her journey with the award, the perception of the award and how that's changing and some of the challenges faced by lockdown and how the award is flexible and the plans for helping young people achieve. For more information about Blue Sky Fostering please visit https://www.blueskyfostering.com or call 0333 258 6686 To find out more about doing your Duke of Edinburgh Award or what the award is about, please visit https://www.dofe.org or https://www.dofe.org/do/basicinformation. To find out more about the mental health study conducted please visit: https://www.dofe.org/thelatest/youth-mental-health-crisis

Hi everyone, hope you all had a nice Christmas and new year with all the various restrictions and are keeping safe. At times, this pandemic has made people feel isolated and for this episode we didn't have an agenda our topic, just a conversation between 3 people to talk about fostering and if you would like to listen in, please do so and enjoy the episode which is just short of 1 hour. We talk about Phil and Michaels careers prior to fostering, their successes and challenges and also a little bit about Sutton Utd and fishing, what more could you want! We talk about a book in this issue and the links to these are below: The Brighness of Stars: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1910930016/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 For more information on fostering please visit https://www.blueskyfostering.com/fostering-young-people Or call us on 0808 506 1493

Fostering at any time of the year has its challenges, but Christmas poses a unique set. Today we talk to one of our clinical practitioners and one of our Foster Carers, about preparing for Christmas, in the hope that you can take some of the straggles and use them, to make sure the festive period is special for everyone. To find out more information about Blue Sky Fostering, please visit www.blueskyfostering.com Take Care

Episode 20! When we started this I went sure we would record 5, let alone 20! But here we are and what better way to celebrate that milestone than by talking to our dear friends at the Childs I Foundation, Paula and Chris. We have worked with Childs I for some years now and our work continues. Childs I have been working so hard during the COVID pandemic to support families in a different way across Uganda, whilst also maintaining the vital work they do. We talk about the work they are doing and how you can help, also how they have been working with government to influence the policy for the whole country. It was fascinating and I am honoured they took the time to talk to us Find out more about Child's i Foundation: www.childsifoundation.org Register to attend the Open House Webinar at 6pm on Thursday, 19 November: https://events.tapsimple.org/event/childs-i-foundation/open-house-webinar Sign up to receive the latest updates on Child's i Foundation's work: https://bit.ly/3pqTFyB Join the Giving Circle: https://www.childsifoundation.org/thegivingcircleuk For more information on Blue Sky Fostering: www.blueskyfostering.com

Really happy to talk to my good friend Sarah Rocket today, someone who has inspired me in my career, but has also been a part of Blue Sky for just over 15 years. We talk charity work in Uganda, Recruiting Foster Carers and also what she believes makes a good foster carer., along with a few personal stories along the way I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too. Take Care Ed

October is the Fostering networks sons and daughters month and we caught up with a son of one of our Foster Carers to talk about what life is like growing up as part of a Fostering Family. We talked about the highs and lows and the challenges that you might face. We also touched on what Greg has learned about himself but also how his parents helped him during what we decided to call his "fostering career" I loved talking to him, I hope you can hear his kindness and compassion for those who have lived with him and his family, especially when talking about the good times. If you like the podcast, please make sure to subscribe so when we upload you get to hear my voice straight away (what more could you want!?) and please be sure to leave a comment so we can pass anything on to Greg ---- To find out more about Blue Sky Fostering please click here: https://www.blueskyfostering.com To find out more about the Fostering Networks Sons & Daughters Month, please click here: https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/get-involved/championing-fostering/sons-and-daughters-month

Listen to our somewhat "technical issue bugged" , reflection on the training and discussion around some of the areas further with Katie & Helen

Today we are joined by one of our foster carers to talk about PDA (Pathological Avoidance Disorder) The PDA Society say... [PDA Society Link: https://www.pdasociety.org.uk ] "PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) is widely understood to be a profile on the autism spectrum, though we are still at an early stage in our understanding and PDA research is in its infancy. Whilst autism is a widely recognised term, our understanding of the full breadth and complexity of the autism spectrum is still evolving. A PDA profile of autism means that individuals share autistic characteristics … sensory experience and also: ‘key features’ of PDA

Listen to the full session on the overview of Neurodevelopmental Conditions. Our Foster Carers can access the PDF by visiting the secure area of our website and logging in and follow along with the slides and resources

Today we catch up with Juliet to talk about play what is play what does it look like how does it help for young people to develop Juliet talks about resources that are available and some amazing ideas around the lower brainstem box We hope you enjoy listening, take care If you wanna get in touch with us please email ed@blueskyfostering.co.uk.

We are joined in this issue by AJ to talk about life growing up as a young black man in foster care. The conversation is timely as AJ talks about bringing along change through discussion. We talk and reflect on AJ's personal perception of the Black Lives Matter protests and what kind of future he would like to see for others We hope you enjoy listening