A Year On & Self-care!
I’m now well over a year in. I registered The EPIC Family CIC in June 2024 after working several months on the idea and concept of the organisation. It originally started with an idea a few short years ago where I was keen to develop a mentoring & advocacy service for children & young people. As per my previous work history, my ideas tend to grow into enormous projects!
So the last year has mainly been about developing an Independent Fostering Service (EPIC Fostering) as part of the vision. This has taken a huge amount of investment in respect of effort, drive, financial commitment, time… the list goes on! When I set up and started growing my previous businesses, it would be fair to say I didn't particularly try very hard. I often reflect on what it could have been if I’d actually wanted to grow a £10m+ business! This time, there’s a lot at stake, because I am hungry for it to work, I’m driven o make a difference to vulnerable children and young people, and that means looking at the bigger picture and how my organisation can support all those involved; we have to support EVERYONE, for the children to have the best possible chance at better outcomes. That drive makes it feel more stressful!
I’m proud to say that we have a good Central Fostering Panel List with an amazing team all ready and waiting to conduct our first Independent Fostering Panel. We have space for one or two more to be added to the central list, though our focus is on Care-Experienced Person as this is a gap we have on our varied Panel. (Check out the vacancies page if you’re interested!). Setting up our Panel was an intense piece of work, though we have had some fun doing it, with our first Induction Training hailed a success from the feedback we have initially gained!
Our journey with navigating the Ofsted process has been brutal! I am passionate about collaborative working and am not particularly precious about keeping what works well to myself. We all strive for the best outcomes for our children, so why wouldn’t we share best practice and help each other in an Empathic way? After significantly researching the process to become a registered service by Ofsted, I built into our business plan the timings, ensuring that ‘worst case’ scenarios could be overcome (including not getting registration!). The timescales have been blown out of the water as Ofsted are under so much pressure with an influx of new applications, they state they have received double the amount of applications for new children’s homes in the past year compared to the previous year! I view Ofsted as another broken organisation where it’s well-meaning individuals are having to battle through a complicated structure where policies and procedures often contradict one another, I guess similarly to other government organisations/authorities. They are under-resourced which adds to the pressure for them. This said, positive working relationships need to be forged with all stake holders, and I feel that we are well on our way with this which is a positive for our organisation.
We are well on our way with the process, though we’re not quite there yet. We’ve been asked to make some changes to part of our application, and Ofsted have assured me that they will prioritise our application once we submit our amendments.
This pressure, has taken it’s toll. I (we!) get asked daily about where we are with Ofsted, whilst I juggle my family life looking after two young children, continue to navigate being a Foster Parent myself, alongside balancing my own finances bearing in mind I have been in this role from the beginning in an unpaid capacity so far. It’s been a fairly stressful 4-5 months. I take on the welfare of my team with great pride, wanting to ensure they all feel included and involved in the process whilst protecting them from some of the finer detail that they don’t need to be worried about. Managing teams is stressful at the best of times, but when I can’t tell some of my new team when they can be formally be appointed in their new roles until the authorities say so, that makes me anxious. After all, we’re all keen to get on with the job at hand.
With all these pressures, it’s important to have self care. We talk about it all the time in the world of Fostering, and it’s important for everyone, whether in fostering or not. I would imagine the people at Ofsted experience lots of juggling. We need to remember that it’s often the systems not the individuals.
Over the past 6 months I have managed to lose a grand total of 5 stone as my weight had ballooned (again!) towards the end of last year. I was fearful of not being able to adequately care care for our children, and juggle all my different roles if further health issues were to creep in. After-all I’m now rapidly approaching my half century! I could no longer run as my joints couldn’t take it. Though since losing the weight, I am back out running (or wobbling as I like to call it!). It’s my time, time for reflection and to get lost in my own thoughts, and it makes me feel amazing! I feel particularly amazing now being at a weight/size I have not been since a teenager! It’s been an eye-opener re-watching some of our video blogs, and the difference in my appearance since November 2024 to more recent ones!
As we take some short pauses and slow down a bit to focus on the summer holidays, we look forward to updating you all with our next bit of Ofsted news. Make sure you make time for self-care, and if you are needing a safe space, then check out my sessions with EPIC Support. Free (fully funded) spaces are available, though donations are also welcome if you have a spare pound or two to support our not-for-profit organisation.
Dan Boxall-Simpson - Founder & CEO.