FAMILY
The RAF Halton Service Families FOSTERING SCHEME
Background
The demands of life in the Royal Air Force are significant and wide ranging, from operational deployments to short notice tasks. These demands can place a strain on family life and are especially difficult when trying to balance the demands of the Service whilst being the sole carer for a child. This will always be a difficult time for parents and children but RAF Halton has come up with a way that has the potential to reduce the stress for a single parent deploying away from home. When the RAF Halton Station Community Support Officer, Flight Sergeant Ellie Wileen took up post in the summer of 2013 she noticed that some single parents were struggling to balance their childcare arrangements with the demands of military life. From this she evolved the Service Families’ Fostering Scheme (SFFS).
Why
The Scheme has been created to cater for the needs of the lone Service parent and for personnel whose children are directly affected by their parent(s) being deployed on operations or lengthy courses. Whilst many are fortunate to have the support of their extended family to help with the care of their children, this is not always possible. Many children are placed with untrained friends, au-pairs, childminders or other family members, who are often unprepared for the child’s emotional needs. This situation places stress on both the child and the deployed parent.
How it works
The Scheme aims to alleviate some of the stresses experienced during these difficult times by placing a child in the familiar environment of a Service household, in the same geographical area, supported by fully trained Service Foster Families. RAF Halton has teamed up with Core Assets (http://
www.coreassets.com/), a national fostering organisation that has offered to assist the RAF, Royal Navy and Army in training Service volunteers to become Foster Carers. It is Core Assets that vet and professionally train the Carers and they ensure that they qualify to the required standard.
www.raf-ff.org.uk
How it can help you Should a Service person then require assistance they will enter into a private fostering arrangement with the Foster Carer. This will also include the financial arrangements, which remain the responsibility of the parent, for the duration of the deployment or course. Whilst a Service child is with a Foster Carer both parties will be monitored and supported by the experts at Core Assets. The training and support comes at no cost to the Service or individuals; however, where appropriate a Foster family not currently fostering a Service child, they could be offered the opportunity to foster a child from the Local Authority, via Core Assets, to provide respite and short term care. The SFFS Co-ordinator will always ensure there is a Service Foster Carer available for any service request. Furthermore, the qualification provided by Core Assets is at the national level and can be taken with Service foster families as and when they are posted to a new unit.
The Future
The SFFS is still in its infancy; nevertheless feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with both the Royal Navy and Army showing a keen interest in becoming involved. RAF Halton currently has 2 families trained to act as foster carers and more families are in training. Flight Sergeant Wileen has received her first request for assistance from a neighbouring unit which will result in a Service child being cared for by a Service Foster Family whilst the single parent is deployed. This will leave the child in a caring and safe environment and allow the parent to fulfil their Service commitments, in the safe knowledge that their child is being looked after.
Getting Involved RAF Halton’s longer term aspiration is that eventually every military unit will provide the SFFS to support personnel at that Unit. If you require any further information about the Service Families Fostering Scheme or
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would like to become involved then please call the RAF Halton Station Community Support Officer, Flight Sergeant Ellie Wileen on 01296 656122.
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