Social worker pens children's book to address lack of stories reflecting care experience

A children’s book written by a social worker aims to address a lack of stories reflecting the experiences of those in the care system.

Foster Care for Florence and Bear is the work of Ellie Pulze, an independent social worker with a background in child protection.

She says she wrote it after seeing the growth in children’s books depicting diverse families, family separation, bereavement and loss but not about being in care.

“When my young children go into a bookshop or library, they see children like themselves on the shelves around them,” said Ellie. 

“They can choose a book in which they see children they relate to, children who reflect their family situation, their lived experiences. But care experienced children don’t have this privilege – and that needs to change. 

“All children deserve to feel seen within a book, to see other children with similar experiences and similar family situations to their own.”

“Florence’s story normalises the concept that some children have homes in more than one place, leaving a message of hope and worth for care experienced children," says Ellie.

Eleanor believes it’s vital to tell such stories, particularly for young children in foster care for whom books representing their lives are “sorely lacking”.

She added: “For children on the edges of or within the care system, perhaps experiencing care outside of their birth family for the first time, for children struggling to understand and accept that they can have both a foster family and a birth family – these children need more stories which validate their experiences, normalise what they are going through, and give them hope.”