In January, Carter Brown Director, Kieran Darnell, received a very heart-warming email from a couple who had recently been approved as foster carers with a Local Authority client.

The couple, who subsequently became approved foster carers for Wolverhampton City Council, spent seven assessment sessions with their Carter Brown Social Worker, Karen, prior to their panel date in January. It was Karen’s professional handling of their assessment which prompted them to make contact with Kieran directly.

Their email began by explaining how supportive and considerate they found Karen to be during the necessarily intrusive assessment sessions:

“As you know this process consists of 7 intrusive sessions with ourselves, family members and references, being contacted to get a handle on who we are as people, parents, professionals and social figures, with no stone left unturned.  Obviously in this line of work you yourself understand the depths and understanding Karen needed to gain from her short time with us, and the many questions and answers she had to ask. Karen’s delivery over the sessions, however expectedly, yet necessarily intrusive we initially found them, Karen’s visits soon became very therapeutic. 

Karen was extremely easy to talk to, with no subject off limits, making it easy for us to raise all circumstances past and present, positive and negative, and we remained completely transparent and provided all and any information requested of us.  It is a very rare thing where an individual in Karen’s position, being an out of area assessor too, having not met us before, knowing nothing about us prior to her first visit, and with our history of past events leading up to our decision to become foster parents for her to go through, can deliver it without prejudice and judgement. 

We found Karen to be tactful, honest, considerate, empathetic, open, supportive, knowledgeable in all the sessions leading up to producing the extremely detailed report and her determination of our suitability for the role of Foster parents.”

They went on to explain how Karen’s conduct throughout their assessment journey has led to them to reflect positively on the process, contrary to their initial presumptions:

“By the completion of her assessment with us she knew us as people, what makes us tick, our triggers, our beliefs, our history and from all the information presented to her she gave us her opinion that we would make ideal foster parents, reinforcing and instilling confidence in us as people, and even more so in the choices we’ve made together.  It has been a pleasure having her conduct her very detailed report on us and contrary to the initial presumptions we had about the assessment process, we feel the experience to this point has been a very positive and valuable one.”  

The email went on to express their gratitude towards Karen for going above and beyond, an approach they suggest is not something they generally experience:

“Karen deserves to be acknowledged for her delivery. From beginning to completion, from assessment through to panel – even travelling such a long distance,  Karen was always present and prompt, never missing an appointment, and even attended the panel date, asking us to attend early and helped put any pre panel nerves we had to rest. We are delighted at the outcome and we feel a debt of gratitude is owed to Karen for being so thorough, digging deep and we would like to express our appreciation for her formidable handling of the assessment. It would be gratifying to know that Karen has received some praise for her efforts and above and beyond approach, as from working with a range of professionals from a multitude of industries over two decades I’ve ascertained that not all professionals go to the lengths that Karen clearly dedicates herself to doing so.”

The email was very gratefully received and further illustrates the hard work and dedication our experts demonstrate through their work on a daily basis. We thank Karen for her dedication to her work, and wish all the best to the couple, who we are sure will go on to change the lives of many children throughout their fostering journey.