Christmas is an exciting time to spend with family. However, Christmas with a foster child can be an emotionally challenging time. Especially for them. Foster parents play an important role in ensuring that the physical health and emotional needs of children are met, especially at this time of the year.
Our foster care practitioners have shared their top tips for carers who might need a little help with navigating Christmas with a foster child. Here’s what they shared:
Help the child feel connected to their birth family
If it’s safe to do so (and depending on the directives of the Department of Child Safety), you can help the children in your care to feel closer to their birth family. This can be achieved through activities like:
- Helping the child buy or create gifts or cards for their family
- Supporting siblings who may be across different foster care placements to see or talk to each other over this special time
- Respectfully listening to the child as they talk about their Christmas memories with their birth family.
By supporting young people to feel closer to their birth families, it can mean the world to them and improve their wellbeing.
Be attentive to their emotions
For children in foster care, Christmas can be an emotionally challenging time. Therefore, it helps to be extra observant of their social and emotional wellbeing. Make yourself available to listen to them if they want to express how they are feeling with you.
At this time of year, you might also like to consider making some time for peace and quiet so that the young person feels more inclined to use this opportunity to talk with you.
Involve them in your Christmas traditions
Involving foster children in your family traditions can go a long way in strengthening your relationship with them. Activities that promote togetherness and bonding include:
- Decorating the tree or house together
- Buying them personalised baubles to add to the Christmas tree
- Getting them involved with cooking Christmas delicacies.
If your foster child has a tradition that they would like to share with you, be welcoming of this. Traditions are special and it can mean a lot to a young person if they are willing to share this with you.
Be prepared for when things don’t go to plan
Whether it’s their first or fifth Christmas in care, you should always be prepared in case things don’t go as planned. Don’t put pressure or expectations on the day.
It’s important that you are patient and observant of the emotional wellbeing of your foster children.
Other tips for navigating Christmas with a foster child
Here are some other tips that may help you with navigating Christmas with a foster child:
- Respect the different traditions and/ or cultural values of the child in your care
- Get creative and make craft decorations with your foster children
- Create new traditions at Christmas
- Share your festive plans and encourage everyone to get involved.
**Note: Involving children and young people in age-appropriate decisions is always important. It’s particularly important to do so over the Christmas period as the feelings of having no control over their situation may surface in tricky ways.
The meaning of Christmas for children in care…
Felicity is one of the foster parents we work with. Here’s some of what she had to say about how she embraces Christmas with foster children:
“Christmas looks different to every child. It’s important to understand what Christmas means to each child I care for and what makes it special for them. For some, it’s a time where they’ve felt left out because their friends get a heap of presents and they don’t; for others it’s the only time of year that they eat a certain meal or do a certain activity. Knowing this allows me to do everything in power to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for that child, or perhaps create a bit of Christmas joy that they will remember for years to come.”
For more foster care support
If you’d like to access more foster care support resources for foster parents, feel free to check out our other blogs.