The sun is out, and lockdown has eased (slightly), just in time as June is Pride month celebrating LGBTQ+ people and communities as well as raising awareness of issues affecting LGBTQ+ people in the UK and around the world.
Pride is held in June to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a series of protests that occurred in New York city after police attempted to raid the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar, in the early hours of June 28, 1969. The confrontation sparked a gay rights uprising, which has grown year on year.
Some of issues that we face in recruiting foster carers is that many LGBTQ+ people rule themselves out of even applying to foster as they believe that cannot be considered, so let me do a bit of myth-busting here and now!
- Firstly, YES, you can foster if you identify as LGBTQ+
- You can foster as couple living together or as a single person
- If you are a couple that want to foster together you can be co-habiting, married or in a civil partnership
- You can have your own children or pets at home
- You can foster if you don’t have your own children as you may have relevant experience as a carer, youth worker, teacher etc
What you do need is:
- Have a spare bedroom for the foster child
- Time, energy, and patience in bucketloads
- Good support network of friends and family to help in an emergency etc
- Be able to drive and have a use of a car (if you live in the middle of a city, we can discuss this)
- Ideally be at home full time or willing to work less than 12 hours a week flexibly around fostering
The assessment process takes around 4-6 months and is very in-depth. We will also complete police checks, medical and other checks, and references.
Please check out or website or contact us to arrange a call. We look forward to hearing from you!
Resources
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/ – Stonewall UK website
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-57176199 Pride month: The LGBT history you probably didn’t learn in school
by Lynsey Dobbs – Senior Recruitment Officer, UK Fostering