Residential children’s homes operator, Anderida Adolescent Care, has launched a newly registered fostering agency with a difference.
Since its foundation, East Sussex-based Anderida Adolescent Care has approached its residential childcare provision in a therapeutic way in order to cater for children with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. One of its unique aspects is that it functions as a non-violent resistance [NVR] organisation, an approach that has been championed by joint operational director and head of therapies, Kerry Shoesmith, who helped facilitate Anderida’s transition into an NVR organisation.
Shoesmith told The Leaders Council: “Non-violent resistance isn’t limited to those who have experienced trauma. It has been seen across the world to bring about change in a healthier and peaceful way. It connects people, improves relationships and makes a strong and peaceful stand against harmful and oppressive behaviours.
“Thinking about it in the context of those who have been traumatised who are capable of hurting themselves, others and displaying destructive behaviours, NVR is a powerful connector that helps meet the needs of somebody who suffers trauma and is an outsider who feels they don’t belong or feel unlovable or unworthy. It speaks to those things in a strong and compassionate way.
“In the case of our young people, they’ve responded well to it, valued themselves more, and valued those qualities that NVR upholds. It is a great way for people to live their lives.”
Shoesmith explained how Anderida’s new fostering agency is built on the NVR approach and a core value of ensuring that looked-after children are able to spend more time with their families of origin in a safe way, something which sets it apart from more traditional agencies of its kind.
“This is such a painful neglected area where children are removed from families and then routinely only get to see them a handful of times a year”, Shoesmith said.
“This contact is often supervised by strangers or their social worker in contact centres, rather than working with families to have the opportunity to be involved in safer ways with their child’s care, or for brothers and sisters to be able to meet more frequently and maintain their relationships.
“There could be circumstances where parents were simply unable to provide for their children yet love their children and are loved by their children. We are thinking about how we can help facilitate families like this being able to see each other more safely and challenging the norms.”
It is the potential that the new agency has to be a trailblazer in this regard that particularly excites Shoesmith, who is already looking forward to gauging how the new arm of Anderida’s provision fares in its first year.
“We are committed to non-violent resistance and will be looking at how that can be delivered by a foster family, the wider community and by the Anderida family. It is really exciting and it something that we’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and it is finally coming to fruition. We wanted to look at fostering alongside our residential services for a number of reasons.
“With the young people we predominantly look after, being in the residential home is their preference and they have had many foster families which for all sorts of different reasons weren’t the best fit for them. But of course, there are young people who desperately want to be in a family environment but because of the challenging behaviours they present and because of the way they are coping with their trauma, it can exhaust many families and there are a lot of families that aren’t given the same level of training and support and intervention as we intend for our foster families.
“So, we are really hoping to create another niche where even the most challenging children are able to stay long-term in a foster family and those foster carers feel able to meet their needs in a really resilient and community-based way.”
Shoesmith also highlighted that a lack of provision for young people that move on from Anderida’s residential services at the age of 17 or 18 was another motivator behind the decision to create another branch on the fostering side.
“The other side to this is that when our young people move on from us, there can be a lack of provision that’s set aside for them. So, at age 17 or 18, young people might move on into semi-independent accommodation and that is not going to give them enough support as they move on into the world.
“We wanted to create another path for them to give them more knowledgeable and experienced families to look after them. We’re looking at a much more intensive wrap-around support for children and foster carers in what we’re doing.”
Kerry Shoesmith’s full interview with The Leaders Council on our podcast series can be seen below.
Photo by Gabe Pierce on Unsplash
