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© 2025 Barnardo's Fostering & Adoption Podcast
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Interested in fostering or adoption? Not sure where to start?
Welcome to the Barnardo's Fostering & Adoption Podcast.
Let your guide, Ness, introduce you to foster carers and adopters, from across the UK, who are willing to share their experiences and give you (and Ness) insights into the world of fostering and adoption. What is it really like? What is 'Panel'? What kind of training can you expect? What sort of support will you get? Will you be able to work and foster? What is the difference between fostering and adoption? What can I expect in the assessment process?
This is the place to find answers to these questions and more. Over the coming months, we will be talking through the application process, the kinds of professional training and support you can expect and the different types of fostering, including fostering to adoption and parent and child fostering. We will speak with those who've walked the walk (and can talk the talk) from right across our services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Barnardo's needs more families, couples and single carers, from all walks of life, whether they are considering fostering and/or adoption, to ensure that when children need a loving family, the right one is there for them. Could it be you?
To learn more about Fostering & Adoption with Barnardo's visit https://www.barnardos.org.uk/get-support/fostering-and-adoption
Arrange a no-strings attached call here: https://www.barnardos.org.uk/foster/register-to-foster
To ask a question, give us some feedback or make a topic request, contact Ness at vanessa.haynes@barnardos.org.uk.
Together, we can change lives.
Image credit: main: Janine Boyd Photography, banner: Xavi Cabrera, Unsplash
22 Episodes
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Two dads, Lee and Bobby, share their journey adopting siblings, from the validation of being approved as parents to navigating their sons' unique personalities and trauma responses. Their story highlights the importance of maintaining connections with foster carers while developing therapeutic approaches to parenting children who've experienced neglect. • Equal treatment in the adoption process regardless of being a same-sex couple • Building productive relationships with the foster carer wh...
Parent and child fostering brings unique challenges as you welcome both a vulnerable young parent and their baby into your home for an intensive placement. We explore the delicate balance between supporting new parents while documenting their progress, and how these specialised placements can transform lives. Ness chats with Laura, a Parent and Child foster carer, and Ben from the BFANI social work team. • Placements typically last three months due to their intensive 24/7 nature • Fost...
Therapeutic parenting recognises children's behaviour as communication and focuses on nurturing connections to help children who've experienced trauma develop trust and security. Unlike traditional parenting approaches, therapeutic parenting requires understanding a child's inner world and developmental needs rather than simply managing behaviours. • Therapeutic parenting is not about being a therapist but about healing through nurturing relationships • Children who enter care have experienc...
What happens when a child in foster care asks the profound questions: "Who am I?" "Why am I here?" or "What happened to my parents?" These seemingly simple questions require thoughtful, age-appropriate responses that honour a child's right to understand their own story while protecting their emotional wellbeing. Meet Emma, an Art Therapist, from our Barnardo's Glasgow service who shares how creative approaches offer unique pathways for children to express and process difficult emotions. With...
Thinking about fostering but feeling overwhelmed by the process? Too busy to listen to the longer episode? We've got your back! This bitesize episode pulls back the curtain on the fostering assessment, walking you through exactly what to expect from your first contact with Barnardo's through to the home visit and beyond. We address common misconceptions head-on: No, you don't need parenting experience. Yes, your spare bedroom currently being used as an office is completely fine. And that hom...
This episode we meet Lee and Bobby, two dads who have adopted two brothers through Barnardo's in the South East. They share their inspiring journey, from navigating the adoption to embracing the chaos that came with welcoming their two boys during lockdown. We discuss: • Choosing Barnardo's • The significance of LGBT+ representation in adoption • Navigating the assessment process and overcoming personal hurdles • Developing bonds • Therapeutic parenting techniques ...
Barnardo's Fostering and Adoption NI, aka BFANI, is marking its 45th anniversary this year and so we decided to uncover BFANI's origins story and meet the person who is responsible for getting it all started in NI. Lynda Wilson's journey from a senior social worker in 1978 to the founder of Barnardo's Fostering in Northern Ireland is a testament to her passion and innovation in child welfare. A dissatisfaction with the existing system, and a poignant story of a young boy looking for a s...
Christmas may be 'the most wonderful time of the year' but we can all agree most families will face a few ups and downs during the festive season. But what might that look like if you're also fostering a child who might have very mixed feelings about the season? In this episode we chat to our foster carer, Marcy, as she shares her personal story of getting her foster child through the holidays and sheds light on the importance of managing expectations, the importance of consistency and findi...
What if the path to parenthood looked different than you'd imagined? Join us on a heartfelt exploration of adoption in the UK, featuring Emma, an adopter in the South East who has journeyed through the highs and lows of IVF, alongside Sharon, the adoption lead from Northern Ireland, and Kat, the Scottish adoption lead. Together, we unpack the adoption process, especially following the heartbreak of fertility struggles. This heartfelt conversation doesn't shy away from the complex emoti...
ICYMI - this was recording during an online information session with our therapeutic parenting trainer, Stella. Stella brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about fostering and adoption, and she shares how therapeutic parenting can be a game-changer for children who have endured trauma. You'll learn how recognizing children's behavior as a form of communication rather than a challenge can build stronger, more healing relationships. And Stella should know she is a former foster ca...
How would you navigate life if your childhood was marked by neglect and abuse? In this very special episode from our BFANI on Tour! series, we meet an English birth mum who experienced two of her three children being taken into foster care but then later, with her third child, found support from a Barnardo's in the shape of a Parent and Child foster placement. Our birth mum recounts her own early life experiences and the fateful choices made whilst she was young, vulnerable and traumat...
This episode we're in Scotland where we meet Carole, a foster carer who specialises in short term, temporary fostering. Carole shares her journey from casually supporting a neighbour to becoming a short term foster carer. Carol shares her experiences of navigating the initial excitement of new foster children, transitioning them into structured routines, working with birth families and children from diverse cultural backgrounds - and sitting with uncertainty in a time of change f...
Meet Barnardo's foster carers, Gillian and Megan, sisters in law who support each other on their fostering journey. Together, they shed light on how their families support each other and reflect on the vital role support networks play in fostering. In this engaging conversation, we dive into the heart of blended foster families, a world where birth children, adopted kids, and foster children grow up together. Gillian and Megan share their strategies for nurturing strong bonds wit...
Parent and child fostering is a very specialised type of fostering. Parent and child placements give parents, with new babies or very young children, the opportunity to develop their parenting skills and gain support from a specially trained foster carer. These placements can help keep families together. In this episode, meet Laura a passionate advocate of parent and child fostering who began her fostering journey with Barnardo's in 2015. We're also joined by Ben from our team who give...
Did you know Barnardo’s Fostering & Adoption NI is just one of a small group of voluntary adoption agencies in Northern Ireland? In this very special panel discussion, to mark Adoption Week, Adoption Routes, Family Care Adoption Services and Barnardo’s Fostering & Adoption NI, got together to discuss what it is like to adopt via a voluntary agency, their assessment and matching processes and the kinds of support and post-adoption care you can expect. The session was followed by ...
So you’re interested in fostering? What happens after you make first contact? What kinds of questions will you be asked? What can you expect? What kind of information will you be given? What is the assessment process like? What happens on a home visit? Will you be expected to know what kind of fostering you want to do from the off? (And what if you don’t yet know?) Who and what are the ‘Panel’? And what happens when you are invited in front of them? And how l...
ICYMI - revisit our online event where we chat with Helen Browne, head of the Barnardo's Fostering & Adoption service in NI, and discuss working while fostering. We also meet Tony and Aine who fostered a baby shortly after approval and, four years later, are in the process of adopting him. Tony & Aine continue to foster and reflect on being led by the individual needs of their child. Learn more about fostering and adoption with Barnardo’s: https://www.barnardos.org.uk/ge...
Ness talks with Priscilla, Northern Ireland's former Operations Manager who spearheaded our new NI adoption service - and Rachel who talks about her experiences as a foster carer now going through the adoption process. We also discuss fostering and adoption in NI, our integrated fostering-via-adoption service and why permanence doesn't always lead to adoption. This is a recording from an online event last November, please follow us on Eventbrite and Facebook to learn more. ...
A snippet from a series of interviews with families who long-term foster or have fostered-to-adopt within our service. Over the coming months, we will be sharing insights into the world of fostering and adoption, sharing conversations with those who foster and adopt and meeting some of the team who support, match and work hard to find families for children in the NI care system. Together, we can change lives. Learn more about fostering and adoption with Barnardo’s: https://www....
A snippet from a series of interviews with families who long-term foster or have fostered-to-adopt within our service. Over the coming months, we will be sharing insights into the world of fostering and adoption, sharing conversations with those who foster and adopt and meeting some of the team who support, match and work hard to find families for children in the NI care system. Together, we can change lives. Learn more about fostering and adoption with Barnardo’s: https://www....
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