I belong to our local foster families support group and regularly attend other events hosted by them.
First: I LOVE our support group. We meet once a month and it is an awesome opportunity to meet with others who share so much of what is going on in our lives. I have slowly built up a network of friends who are fostering but at first I only knew one or two other foster parents. There are so many things that if you don't foster you just cannot understand. My learning curve was so steep my first year of fostering, I had to educate myself on so much because I knew so few others to go to and ask questions, etc.
It was in my second year of fostering that I became aware of the support group. At ours we meet at 5:30, they provide a meal and then the kids are all taken outside (with wonderful care takers) to play, and the adults talk, we sometimes have guest speakers, presentations, information, etc. It is an incredible support and I am shocked that there are not more members
We have 10-20 families who come every month, but then when we go to the annual big events (Summer Picnic at the Water Park, Christmas Party, etc.) there are thousands there! My kids (bio & foster) love going to group too. They are able to hang out with kids like them!
I think that SWs should make a bigger deal about making new FPs aware of support groups/organizations because it would save them a lot of trouble. I have gotten much more answers from my support group, much easier than calling my worker. It is a wonderful resource but I am not even sure of the workers are aware of it.
Hope that helps!
