Foster carers & children asked - we listened

"I told her it wasn't her fault. She was a child. It was the adult that was doing whatever was done. It was the adult's fault. It wasn't her fault and that she had her childhood taken away from her at an early age. And that is why it made her do the wrong decisions when it comes to boys, because she thinks she has to. She thought she had to act a certain way to get a boyfriend because she thought that's what boys wanted."

"Unfortunately, when children that come into care have had long term neglect and have had to fend for themselves and have never been… their actions have never been questioned. It's very difficult for the carer to explain and try and help them understand that the way that they use their phones and the information that they're giving and the conversations that they're having and the pictures they are taking is not appropriate. I think looked after children think they're the only ones going through it. That is why I put this child I have now into a group where they can interact with other children with a similar experience."

"I review his browsing history and monitor game usage. I do some spot checks of devices and discreet listening."

"We were worried that something was causing a 14 year old girl’s behaviour to change so much. She was nervous, edgy and angry, and would not say why. We tried to talk to her about this but got nowhere.

We looked through her search history, she always dropped sites down on the tool bar of her laptop if we came into the room. We found she was looking at pages where people talked about self-harm and how to hide it. We got her some help as soon as we could and she agreed to accept it."

"I’d speak to my link worker for advice or ask my adult children about it."

"I have their passwords and have set parental filters, we only allow age appropriate content."

"A lot of our looked after children would go through this on their own and they wouldn't tell anybody. That was what happened to us with the girls that we were looking after. They didn't tell anybody because it was just the norm. It was what was going on. And it's about breaking that. It's about breaking that misconception that this is acceptable, and this is OK. We tried to model a healthy relationship and talk about it."

"Being open from the outset on what is acceptable, building trust, talking about it regularly and setting clear boundaries and expectations."

"I check their social media and ask questions, keep communication open."

"I speak to them consistently and raise awareness as well as make sure I’m aware of all online platforms they may be using."