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Two of Blue Cabin’s associate artists, Carol Bowden and Katie Doherty, lead regular music-making sessions which are designed especially to help build attachment between foster carers and the babies and children in their care. Here, Carol Bowden gives an insight into the weekly sessions in Darlington and Redcar and Cleveland, which are part of Blue Cabin’s This is the Place project.
This Is The Place is an early years project that uses music-making to support relationships and attachment between very young children and their foster carers. It has been running since January 2023 with funding and support from Youth Music, Darlington Borough Council, Redcar & Cleveland Council, and Creative Darlington.
Myself and Katie Doherty initially worked with foster carers in Darlington and, after securing further funding from Youth Music, we began running sessions in Redcar from April 2024. This Is The Place was shortlisted for the Youth Music Social Action Award 2024.
We have been running in Darlington for almost two years now and have built a wonderful community there with the foster carers. This Is The Place has become such an important activity in their weekly routines, valuing the impact the sessions had on the children and themselves, that the foster carers arranged for contact and/or nursery visits to allow them to be free to attend This Is The Place every week.
As qualified carers of babies and very young children, foster carers often take on placements for children aged from less than an hour old and up to five years old. In such a short span of years, the support these children need in their emotional, social and physical development requires a wide breadth of knowledge, skills, expertise and emotional wellbeing from their carers.
Building attachment is the main focus for foster carers, as when a child is able to form healthy bonds with their caregivers, this sets them up for more healthy and successful relationships in the future. Singing and music-making has been proven to support development of attachment through beat, melody, rhythm, eye to eye contact, soothing qualities, structure, language development and emotional regulation (Malloch & Trevarthen, 2009)*.
Attending This Is The Place is an opportunity for foster carers to spend time with each other, sharing experiences, tips, knowledge, frustrations, joy and supporting each other whilst singing, making music, and having a lot of fun. The music-making is the glue that brings everybody together as well as being a therapeutic space for them to relax.
We begin with a ‘hello song’ and finish with a ‘goodbye song’, and the space in between is filled with songs and activities which are child-led. Even the youngest baby can inform the next song, whether they start to bounce or yawn or show an interest in a particular toy. Shaping the activities around the children demonstrates how the foster carers can use music throughout their day, to punctuate learning and structure, and validates the children’s development and builds confidence. There’s a snack break where we get a chance to have a good chat and, to be honest, chat is such an important element that the entire session is peppered with conversation and laughter.
Foster carers are extraordinary people doing an extraordinary job. Katie and I have rejoiced with them and experienced their grief, as they support their children through the adoption process, moving them on to their forever families. They are the strongest advocates for their children, ensuring that, amongst all of the professionals across the departments involved in making decisions for the children, the foster carers ensure that the right decisions for each individual child are made.
To be working with foster carers is the most rewarding, humbling and inspiring experience I have had in my centuries of working as a musician. I look forward to spending every session with them as This Is The Place is definitely The best Place to be.
*S, Malloch & C,Trevarthen. (2009). Communicative Musicality: exploring the basis of human companionship. Oxford University Press.
Are you a carer for a care-experienced child in Redcar & Cleveland who’s aged 0 to five years? Come along to our free term-time, weekly music sessions. You can find out more about This is the Place here and, if you’d like to get involved in our music-making sessions, get in touch! Email Virtual.School@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk to find out more.
Find out how to get involved in our This is the Place sessions in Darlington – if you’re a carer for a care-experienced child in Darlington, aged 0 to five, email Nicola Andrews on Nicola.Andrews@darlington.gov.uk for more details.
We’ve published a bank of free music-making resources including a playlist of songs and a short film by Carol Bowden and Katie Doherty, explaining how music-making can support attachment and development in babies and children. Access the resources here.
Learn more about This is the Place and what’s happening as part of the programme in Redcar and Cleveland, and in Darlington, here.
