Foster Care Fortnight was started by The Fostering Network, which is a leading national fostering information charity, and is now an annual event to:
“raise awareness of the transformational power of fostering and to celebrate the fostering community”.
(the fosteringnetwork.org.uk, 2021)
So often television, film, and other media, do not give particularly accurate representations of fostering with the UK, which can leave people with an unrealistic understanding of why and how children are in foster care, and of course what foster carers actually do!
As this year’s theme is “#Why We Care”, we at UK Fostering would like to share a few words from our foster carers, young people, and social workers, about why foster caring is important to them and some of their experiences.
We will have a variety of blogs and posts during Foster Care Fortnight, and hope that you will join us at UK Fostering in finding out more on many aspects of fostering.
Michelle, who fosters with her husband, Steve, tells us about ‘why we care’:
“I have always cared for people from hospitality to hospital discharge, My husband has strived to instil his wisdom into the minds of children through his educational journey (Steve is a headteacher!).
I thought about fostering for many years but felt my husband would never agree. After dropping many a hint and a bit of gentle persuasion we found ourselves on a weekend induction. We came away with my husband becoming, surprisingly, really enthusiastic.
We have had 3 placements to date all of which have been very different. It has been more challenging than we anticipated, but each placement has left us with special memories. It’s a bit like labour, you forget the pain and remember your bundle of joy.
I remember taking one of the children I had to the Range store. We had lunch in the cafe overlooking the rows of interior furnishings. The little girl commented ” isn’t it beautiful here, it’s the best view I’ve ever seen” I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. It makes you realise that things we take for granted some of these children have never witnessed.
At first my family thought I was crazy but once they knew I was serious, and the kids were on their way here, my family were at the door with presents for them.
There is never a dull moment in fostering, there are happy, sad and challenging times, but with a good supportive team around you, like we have with UK Fostering, you will have no regrets.”
By Michelle, foster carer