During Foster Care Fortnight, Diagrama Foundation invited their foster carers to a fun family picnic to strengthen their fostering community and thank them for everything they do.
On 20 May a group of foster carers joined the Diagrama Fostering and Adoption team for a Hawaiian themed picnic in Croydon. The foster carers, their natural families and fostered children were joined in the glorious sunshine by parents who had adopted through the charity. Everyone enjoyed the Hawaiian music, the bouncy castle, hula hoops, lei making, face painting and a very competitive limbo competition.
Diagrama Foundation picnics are held biannually and are a great way for families to meet and share their experiences of fostering and adoption, widen their community network, make new friends and allow the children to play together in a safe enclosed space.
Kate Patel, Head of Fostering and Adoption Diagrama Foundation said, “Our picnics are a fantastic opportunity for our fostering and adoption community to come together and enjoy peer to peer friendships and socialising in a friendly and relaxed environment. During the day the Diagrama team ensured everyone had fun with the organised activities and spent valuable time relationship building with adopters and foster carers.”
David McGuire, Chief Executive, Diagrama Foundation said, “The event, held during Foster Care Fortnight, shows the vital nature of friendships and communities coming together to share fun times with one another. Events like this are very important to enhance the lives of our foster carers and adopters and ensure communities, life-long friendships and relationships are built and maintained. It’s also a great opportunity for the children to play with and form friendships with, other children in a safe and friendly atmosphere.”
One of the families attending the picnic said, “Thanks for inviting us to join in the fun. It is great for us to meet other families like ours and rekindle some friendships.”
8 year old B said, “I loved today, can we do it again next weekend please?”
Kate Patel continued, “With an urgent need for more foster carers, we would urge people to step forward and talk to our team about fostering (or adoption) and become part of our valued friendly community!”
To find out why fostering with a charity is different, visit www.diagramafostering.org.uk or call 0800 802 1910
Notes to Editors
According to the Fostering Network there are record numbers of children in care and around 12 per cent of the foster carer workforce retiring or leaving every year. The Fostering Network estimates that fostering services across the UK need to recruit at least a further 7,200 foster families in the next 12 months alone. A further 1,091 fostering households need to be recruited in the South East of England. There is a particular need for foster carers to look after teenagers and sibling groups.
About Diagrama Foundation Fostering
Diagrama Fostering is an independent, not-for-profit fostering agency that provides a supportive environment for “looked after” children across South London, Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.
The Diagrama fostering agency is small enough to offer a personalised fostering experience while benefitting from the expertise and security that comes with being part of the larger Diagrama charitable foundation.
Diagrama foster carers are rewarded with a generous benefits package, 24/7 support, additional payments, holiday cover and a free training and appraisal programme to develop new skills.
Diagrama works with many local authorities and gives their carers access to a wide and varied range of children in need of care.
Diagrama Fostering is part of Diagrama Foundation
About Diagrama Foundation
Diagrama Foundation is a Kent based charity that supports vulnerable children, young people, and adults to live their best life.
Diagrama has a Supported Living Service across Bromley, three homes for adults with learning disabilities in Orpington, an eight bed care home for adults with learning disabilities in West Sussex a fifty-bed care home for the elderly with nursing and dementia needs in Essex, and a fostering and adoption service in the southeast.
- The Supported Living Service, cares for 35 adults with learning disabilities, in nine homes across Bromley helping them to develop skills and confidence to live in their own house either on their own or with others.
- At Cabrini House in Orpington the charity promotes the development of core skills for 23 adults with learning disabilities so that they can lead independent lives integrated within their community.
- Duckyls Farm in West Sussex, a care home for eight residents with learning disabilities, joined the charity care provider in February 2023.
- The team at their nursing and dementia care home, Edensor Care Centre in Clacton on Sea, support vulnerable residents to live life to the full.
- Diagrama’s adoption and fostering service cares for children in South London, Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.
Many vulnerable children and adults don’t get the support they need to develop their true potential, but the Diagrama team know that when someone has time and belief invested in them, they come alive, because that investment has made them feel valued and worthy.
