There are situations that arise unexpectedly which mean young people need emergency care and support at short notice. Foster carers under this scheme provide temporary emergency care to any child or young person needing a safe place to stay until a suitable home is found. Young people in this situation are dealing with uncertainty and may also be traumatised and will need extra support.

Emergency foster carers receive £900 per week per child when they have a child to stay with them and £500 per week when they don't have foster children to care for. The council would like to recruit more carers to help meet the demand.

Kerry has been a foster carer for almost 15 years and for a large part of that time she’s provided emergency foster care for children and young people as part of the Wiltshire Council Short-term Emergency Provision (STEP).

She was originally with an Independent Fostering Agency but wanted to foster local children so moved to the council. STEPS carers foster a minimum of 14 nights a month followed by a rest period of up to 14 nights where they don’t have a child staying with them. They often care for children in crisis or an emergency who need support urgently.

She explained: “STEPS is challenging as the young people can be intense. I really like having different children and the positives are while it’s intense it’s short term and then you have a break, so you have time to reset, see family and friends and prepare for the next child.   

“You do have to be a certain kind of person to do STEPS.  You have to be resilient. The young people may be in a crisis and their behaviour is not at their best and it’s likely you won’t get the best version of them.   You have to manage and move on from things you may not consider acceptable if they were staying longer term. You have to let a lot of the stuff go and concentrate on the here and now – what can I do in this moment that will help this child. You need to have a thick skin and an open mind.”

Over the years Kerry has helped many children, and many keep in touch with her as they move forward with their lives.

She said: “I hope they do look back and think – when things were really hard for me, this person was kind, this person looked after me when I couldn’t look after myself.”

And the support of other carers is important.

“For us as a group of carers it’s important to work together.  I don’t feel isolated. We have a strong team of specialist carers, and you need to buy into that. You’re joining a team of STEPS carers, you’re not doing it on your own.”

You can drop in for a chat to Trowbridge Sports Centre on Monday 28 October from 1pm – 5pm or join an online session Thursday 7 November or Saturday 16 November

All details of our events are here and for online sessions please ensure you’ve downloaded the Microsoft Teams app. Fostering events - Fostering with Wiltshire Council

For more information go to Emergency foster care - Fostering with Wiltshire Council