Welcome to the Positive Aspirations Group fostering community.
By choosing to foster with us you have joined a team that places children’s safety, healing and lifelong potential at the centre of everything we do. This handbook is designed to give you quick, accurate and trauma‑informed guidance for day‑to‑day fostering and to sign‑post you to our full policies and procedures when you need more detail.
Why a trauma‑informed handbook?
Many of the children you care for will have experienced adversity, loss or disrupted attachments. A trauma‑informed approach recognises the impact of those experiences and weaves the following principles through all our practice:
| Core principle | What this looks like in daily fostering |
| Safety | Creating predictable routines, clear boundaries and a physically safe environment. |
| Trust & transparency | Being honest about decisions and explaining the “why” in child‑friendly language. |
| Empowerment & choice | Offering children appropriate choices (from meal options to life‑story work) to rebuild a sense of control. |
| Collaboration | Working alongside the child, birth family, social workers and other professionals as equal partners. |
| Cultural sensitivity | Respecting each child’s identity, culture, faith and orientation; challenging discrimination. |
These principles underpin the stand‑alone policies listed below and guide the language used throughout this handbook.
How to use this handbook
- At a glance. Each chapter starts with a shaded “Key Points” box so you can see the essentials in under a minute.
- Deeper dives. Where you need more depth, the margin icon 💼 directs you to the relevant stand‑alone policy on our secure policy portal.
- Living document. We refresh the handbook annually in line with our Quality Assurance Policy. Your feedback is vital—please email suggestions to policies@positiveaspirations.org or raise them at Support Groups.
Linked stand‑alone policies
This introductory section aligns with—and should be read alongside—the latest versions of the following Positive Aspirations Group policies (June 2025 unless dated otherwise):
- Induction of Foster Carers Policy & Guidance – sets out the structured learning pathway you will complete in your first 12 months.
- Training & Development Policy – details mandatory and specialist courses, including our Trauma‑Informed Practice modules.
- Equality & Diversity Policy – affirms our commitment to anti‑discriminatory practice.
- Promoting Health and Wellbeing Policy & Procedure – explains how we support the emotional, mental and physical health of children and carers.
- Quality Assurance Policy – describes how we monitor, learn from and improve all practice and documentation.
(If you need a copy of any policy, your Supervising Social Worker can provide it.)
We look forward to working with you to offer children and young people stable, nurturing and reparative homes.
With thanks and warmest wishes,
Emma, Rahima and Sally
Registered Managers
and everyone at Positive Aspirations Group
