Advice

With the days getting shorter and many of us retreating indoors, it can be difficult to find winter activities that will keep all the family entertained. When fostering teenagers in particular you may be looking for a way to keep them from spending too much time online or on their phones. But it doesn’t have to be that complicated to organise winter activities that are fun for all age groups.   At Orchard Fostering, we’re committed to providing 24/7 support for foster carers and we know

One of the questions we get asked most frequently at Orchard Fostering is ‘can I foster if I have my own child?’ The simple answer to this question is: Yes! If you have your own children, you are well equipped to offer a caring, nurturing and loving environment to a child in care. Experience is everything and your experience with your own children will stand to you when you are in a foster care scenario. While you can foster if you have your own child,

With the leaves turning and autumn arriving in full swing, there is nothing better than nestling in for the night with a good book for company. At Orchard Fostering, we’ve always ben great advocates of reading. We believe that a good book can act as a portal to a new world, or as a mirror to reflect our own lives back to us. While we’ve discussed the merits of reading with your foster child before, we decided that it was time to offer our own

At Orchard Fostering, we strive to make the fostering journey as fulfilling as possible for all our carers and the children in their care. We do this by offering cutting edge trainings, providing access to pre-established support systems, and by ensuring our carers (and the children in their care) are looked after every step of the way. As well as all this day-to-day work, we sometimes like to kick back and just celebrate our carers and the children in their care. In August, we gathered

We are living in a digital world. Every one of us is plugged in to the internet. Whether it’s looking up recipes, trying to find fun activities to do in our free time, or searching for advice about our kids – we all use the internet every single day. While the internet can be a useful and wondrous place, it can also be one fraught with danger and difficulty – especially when it comes to social media. At Orchard Fostering, we understand the importance of

The sun is out, the skies are blue and the world is coming to life – summer is here and it’s the perfect time for family fun. You can get outdoors and get that all-important vitamin D (remembering to wear sunscreen, of course) – a great natural mood-booster. While summer can be a time of great enjoyment, it can also bring with it some challenges. With no school to attend, the days can start to feel long and you might find yourself struggling to entertain