Centre connects kids with birth families

Children's toys Photo: DieselDemon

A new service at a family centre in Tower Hamlets is improving the contact experience fostered children have with their birth parents.

Based in Wapping, the centre provides a safe place for young people looked after, or subject to court proceedings, to meet their birth families.

Research has shown good contact with family whilst adjusting to care arrangements ensures children feel happier with their situation. These children are then more likely to have positive, supportive family relationships. Good management of the process also gives children a continued sense of identity.

The council launched the service with a conference attended by more than 150 fostering and adoption professionals. It highlighted the work been done with foster carers, birth families, children and young people across the borough so far, and looked at ways the council could implement the recommendations of Professor Eileen Munroe’s ‘best practice’ report.

Tower Hamlets Council was also recently praised by the Department of Education for placing children into adoptive families ahead of recommended guidance, ensuring more young people in the borough needing a permanent home were settled into one quickly.

Mayor Lutfur Rahman said national trends showed more young people than before are going through the care process. He added: “The launch of this vital new service will ensure that Tower Hamlets families and carers are given the building blocks to enjoy the very best outcomes possible from their fostering or adoption experience.”

Oliur Rahman, Lead Member for Children, Schools and Families said: “Our foster carers and adoptive parents in Tower Hamlets do a fantastic job. The launch of this service is just one way that the council provides the highest quality support possible to children, families and carers.”

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