Foster carer initiative that helps keep families together hailed as lifeline

Noeleen Thomas, who four years ago was able to avail of the Step Up Step Down initiative organised in tandem with the Fostering Network and the South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust, said of the service: “It was literally a lifline. It let me be a mother again to my two daughters.”

Step Up Step Down involves family support foster carers working closely with families as and when they need them, in order to keep families together and prevent children entering the care system.

Parents who have used the service insist it really works because foster carers ‘step up and step down’ but they never step away.

Since it was introduced seven years ago, it has significantly reduced the number of children being taken into care, making a real difference to the lives of families in the South Eastern Trust area.

This child-centred, trauma-informed service has helped more than 180 children on the edge of care to stay together with their birth families.

Noeleen Thomas described the Step Up Step Down service as vital in helping her family stay together.

She said: “Step Up Step Down was a lifeline, it pulled me out of a dark place. My family was falling apart and I thought I was failing as a parent.

"The service helped support me and made me aware I was not failing as a parent, even though I was struggling.

"They put tools in place for me and showed me how to work with the children. Adeline, [a foster carer who works for the initiative], came into our lives and made us a family again.

“The future is so exciting, I no longer dread every day. Step Up Step Down has given us our lives back, we are very grateful for that and most importantly to Adeline for all her support.”

Noleen’s daughter Makaylah Thomas added: “Adeline was so lovely, she was really patient with us. I think more families should have the opportunity to benefit from the service and to know there are people out there that can support them on their journey.”

Family support foster carer, Adeline Lansdell said: ”I have been working in Step Up Step Down for five years now and it has been a privilege to have supported Noeleen, and her daughters Rebekah and Makaylah over the last number of years.

"I would love to see this service rolled out across Northern Ireland, to provide extra support to families that need it most.”

Head of Step Up Step Down with the Fostering Network, Jade Irwin said: “The Fostering Network is immensely proud of this service. The model is flexible, and needs-led, offering wraparound support to families, literally “stepping up” when they require additional support, and “stepping down” when they have a higher capacity to cope and flourish, but crucially, not stepping away.”

For further information on the Step Up Step Down initiative click here.