What By The Bridge Does

By the Bridge finds families for young people who cannot live with their own families. We also work to make sure that young people have all their rights met and have every opportunity possible to be successful.

The Foster Family

The work of a By the Bridge foster family is to provide a home for young people. Foster parents have been trained to show young people how to find useful ways of getting what they need.

The Family Mentor

All our foster families have a Family Mentor from By the Bridge. They visit every month, talk to foster parents on the telephone and go to your meetings.

The Family Mentor's job is to make sure that your foster family has everything they need so that they can provide for you well.

Social Worker

All young people in By the Bridge have their own social worker from their home area; they will visit you in your foster family and attend your meetings. They are responsible for any links with your own family. By the Bridge cannot make any decisions about your future without the agreement of your social worker.

Meetings

When you live in a By the Bridge family there are a lot of meetings about you and your life. Meetings to decide on plans for you, where you live and what school you go to are called 'Planning Meetings'. Meetings that look at how things are working out and what happens next are called 'Reviews'. Meetings between you and your own family are called 'Contact'.

Time Out

All young people in By the Bridge have 3 weeks 'time out' away from their foster family each year; this is called 'respite'. Some of the respite time might be spent on an activity holiday or with a different foster family. Some young people are able to go home to their own family for a while.

Life

When difficult things have happened in peoples lives they may use all their energy feeling angry or sad and having nothing left for discovering the good things about themselves.

You

The adults who work for By the Bridge know that you are the only person exactly like you who has ever been here. It's our job to get to know you and work to discover your strong points so that you can be more successful.

Rules

Whether you are young or old and wherever you live there will always be rules. Having rules helps people to live together safely and enjoy themselves.

At By the Bridge we have four basic rules to help us do this:

Rule # 1
To get to know and like yourself and what makes you unique.

Rule # 2
To get to know other people and what makes them unique.

Rule # 3
To get to know the place where you live in order to have all the advantages that this place has to offer.

Rule # 4
To get to know other living things and value their place in the world.

You could have these rules too!

Moving On

Some young people move back to their own families. Many, when they are old enough and ready, move into a place of their own.

By the Bridge will work with you to make sure you are fully prepared for moving on.

Are You Ready?

Before managing your own life without adults being involved you will need knowledge and skills in the following areas:

Money Management
Cooking
Housekeeping
Basic D.I.Y
Applying for jobs
Applying for benefits and housing
Using public transport
Personal safety
Managing health
Making friends

We Need To Know

When you arrive in your By the Bridge foster family you will be given a complaint form so that you know how to tell us if things are not right for you.

When young people come to a By the Bridge family they are given their own card to keep in their wallet or purse, this is called a 'Keep In Touch' card. There is a number for you to text at any time - even when you have left By the Bridge - we still want to know how you are!

By the Bridge would like to hear from you if you have anything to say (good or bad) about being in care.

Every year at By the Bridge a group of young people are invited to meet with the Chief Executive and talk about ways to improve fostering. This meeting is called 'The Young People's Forum', we hold this so that the Board of Directors always consider ideas from children and young people, not just the adults.