How to Help Your Foster Child Develop Their Confidence

Confidence is either innate or an acquired skill. Everyone has something they feel they are good at, and things where they would struggle to feel comfortable. Looked after children are no different. As a foster carer, you will have to work hard to develop their confidence levels so that they can embrace who they are and where they are heading in the future. Here are some great ways to do it. 

Let Them Be Their Authentic Selves

Children, especially ones with a trauma background or some level of neurodivergence, often struggle to be their authentic selves. While fairly typical, it is important to help them move past this and learn exactly who they are and what they bring to the table. Everyone has unique qualities that make them special, and it is essential that they are allowed to explore this in a safe setting so that they can grow as the universe intended. 

Embrace Your Local Area

Foster children can gain a lot of confidence by getting to know their immediate surroundings outside of their foster family’s home. Foster carers operate all over the country. It is important to explore your local area, whether you are fostering in Blackpool or in a more rural setting because it helps a child to develop an external sense of identity and place. Take them out and about, and when the time is right (and the age is appropriate), let them do it by themselves or with their peers. 

Be Involved With Their Education

One area where all children often struggle is to find their feet in the world of academia. Starting school or engaging with education has its own challenges and is the biggest drain on confidence more often than not. However, you can mitigate this by being involved and helping them manage all the obligations and expectations of school from the very first day. Do this by establishing an open narrative with teachers and care leaders in the educational setting and being upfront with everyone about what you expect. Help them organise their home learning, and as soon as any perceived problem arises, make a plan of action on how to move forward together. The simple act of showing support will cement the fact that they have an ally and this will naturally boost their confidence. 

Let Them Get it Wrong

Children are human beings, and human beings get things wrong. There may be lying, rule-breaking, boundary-pushing and so much more to navigate but if you allow them the space and the grace to make contrary decisions, they will have a great opportunity to learn and grow. Model this in everything you do and ensure that things like apologies and communication are at the forefront of what you demonstrate. These two things alone will enable them to build healthy attachments and see positive resolutions in action, which will empower them to feel confident and assured that when things go wrong, there is always a way to put them right again. 

A big part of being a foster carer is finding ways to develop a child’s confidence. This can be achieved in many ways, and it’s all about trying things on and being consistent.