Autumn Newsletter – Social Work Update

North Team Update.

Hi everyone, I hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing summer with a break from usual routines and with lots of quality time spent together.  We have had a nice summer here in the North (despite the weather!) and are looking forward to getting back to our groups. As you know the North, Mid and South team are temporarily amalgamated into two teams at present while Claire Lohan (Team Manager) is on maternity leave. We look forward to welcoming Claire back to work in early October. In other baby news, Sinead Grene went on maternity leave in April and welcomed baby Elsie in early May.

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to our newly approved fostering families on the north team Owen and Aonghus, Edel and Ciaran, Francis and Gabby, and Martina and Aidan. We wish them all the best on their fostering journey. We are also looking forward to welcoming new carers in Mayo, Louth, and Galway in the coming months. In May, we welcomed Aileen Mc Keon, Link Social Worker to the team, covering North Dublin/Louth/Meath region. Aileen comes to FFI with extensive experience and expertise, and we are delighted she has joined the team.

I would like to say a massive well done to all our junior and leaving cert students and their foster families for getting through the exams in June. We have a few young people who are nearing independence and moving towards adulthood, an emotional time for all involved.  We also have a number of young people remaining with their foster families into the coming year and navigating their transition to aftercare.

We have celebrated many successes and firsts over the past few months; children experiencing their first birthday party; their first play dates; holidays; first time on airplanes, ferries, and double decker buses. All of these experiences are only made possible by the commitment and love of our incredible foster carers. Another lovely success story involved the re-unification of two siblings with one of our foster families. This took a lot of work and preparation in the background by the foster carers and Senior Social Work Practitioner Eimear White, which resulted in a 5-year-old coming out of his residential placement and coming to live with his one-year-old sister in her placement.  A wonderful outcome for all involved.

That sums up our update and the only thing left to say is we hope to see you all at the carer do in November 😊don’t forget your dancing shoes!

Take care,

Joanna

Mid Team Update.

Hopefully everyone has had a chance to enjoy some adventures and summer fun the last few months- I know all the team here at FFI who attended the Carlow sports day had an absolutely brilliant day. From young to not so young it was a day of fun, games and laughter. A chance to meet with old friends and make new friends. It is always a lovely opportunity for the team to see each and every child and family that comes along- the happy, smiling faces of the children is what all the efforts of the carers and staff is about. It is a break for all the adults to step out of the busy day to day pressures and see the results of all the hard work as the children can play in a carefree way as every child should. It also motivates and re-energises all of us to keep going and work as hard as we can to bring as many foster carers and children into the FFI family for more days like these.

On that note I would like to welcome our newest carers to the FFI family – Sandra and Brendan, Grainne and Louise, Shirley and Sean, Martina and Luke, Christina and Brendan and Martina and John. It has been a very busy few months getting all the new carers on board, and everyone is doing fantastically with the young people in their care already. It can feel like a whirlwind, hopefully September will bring some sense of settling and that important and big adjustments are bedding in.

 As ever and as you will all be aware, the pressure on the foster care system is growing and growing, whilst this is heartbreaking to know and work with every day, it is so, so encouraging to have so many new carers coming forward to take on the extraordinary task of giving a child in need a safe and caring home. We know how tough a path it can be to walk; it can be hard to know what the directions are and where the path leads- but remember we are all here to walk it with you together. As the support groups and training sessions start again, use these opportunities to meet others and share experiences- something we hear about today might be of vital importance to us tomorrow. The wisdom of those who have been living the fostering life can be invaluable to those new to it.

So, busy times ahead now to get back to the routines, breathe in the last of the warm air as another school year with all the thrills and spills awaits.

See you all soon at the carer party!!

Mary