Fostering an unaccompanied child from abroad.....

Many foster carers these days are being asked to look after children from abroad who have arrived in this country unaccompanied. It can be rewarding work, seeing a child develop and integrate in to the UK, learn English and gain confidence. These children are often very motivated to work hard and achieve at school and they value the support and guidance carers offer. The case examples below (not their real names) are real examples of children who have been placed in our Fostercare agency. Carers of asylum seeking children go through the same training and assessment procedures as carers who foster UK children. In this Fostercare agency we have carers from Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea and China, which helps initially with the language barrier. But we also place such children with white UK foster carers, who manage to support such children and maintain their culture and identity whilst also helping them integrate into UK society. Foster carers come from all walks of life - you do not have to be married or to own your own home to foster, but you do need the time and energy to offer young people needing often a great deal of support.

Hong was only 12 years old when he arrived in this country from Vietnam, unaccompanied, but his journey was likely to have been funded by a gang who planned to use him in drugs or other criminal activities. He was picked up by the police and considered vulnerable so was taken in to the care of the local authority and placed with a foster carer. The carer quickly realised that the traffickers who originally brought him to this country had identified the area in which he was living and they attempted to make contact and intimidate him, threatening to abduct him for their own purposes. Understandably, he was initially very distrustful of all adults and intent on islolating himself from the foster family. The foster carer "coaxed" him into trusting her through her nurturing care and over the 3 and a half years he has been placed, he has emerged a confident, capable young man. With her support, he has protected himself against those intent on exploiting him. He attends school regularly and is studying hard; he has received awards from school, and regularly assists his local authority in planning Fotercare services for other young people in care. He has friends and feels part of his community, his carer is very proud of him, and feels she has made a real difference to his life.

At age 13, Saeed was selected by his family to travel from Afghanistan to the UK in an effort to protect him from the death threats of the Taleban. Along with other teenage boys, previously unknown to Saeed, he travelled many miles across Europe, and after a circuitous route through various countries, he landed in the UK. It soon emerged that Saeed had been bullied and physically abused by an older man during the journey and he was extremely traumatised, not only by this but also by the separation from his loving family. He came to the attention of the police when he and the group were kicked out of the van on to the side of the road. He was assessed by the local authority as a vulnerable young person and placed in a large residential "holding" hostel for young unaccompanied asylum seekers. However it soon became clear that he was too young for such a place, again he was subject to bullying. A foster home was found for him where he could be placed alongside another young person from Afghanistan and he has gone from strength to strength. They attend the same school, and over the last year they have become firm friends. Their English has progressed with the coaching of the school and the foster carer and Saeed enjoys sports particularly football. The foster carer's task has been to encourage Saeed to speak English, learn about the British culture and help him to assimilate into UK society without losing his sense of his own identity as an Afghan person. Fostering is never boring, but this has been a real challenge for the carer, and seeing the progress Saeed has made has been a very rewarding experience.