We recently asked our foster carers at UK Fostering about why they foster. Below are responses from foster carers at different stages of their fostering careers. Hopefully, their thoughts on fostering will encourage you to think about becoming foster carers too 😊:
“To us, fostering is just an extension of our family. We have fostered two children long term over the past 14 years.
The first has now given us our first grandson who we care for on a regular basis and is the light of our life.
Our second aspires to be a chef in the Royal Navy. We are so proud of both of them; and feel if we hadn’t cared for them, encouraged them, and empowered them, then they may have been on a different path.
We feel fostering isn’t just until they are 18, but for life and we promote this from day one, so they know they will always have a place to come back to and call home.”
Elisabeth & David
“We do it (fostering) to give life chances to children who have not been fortunate enough to receive such opportunities from their birth parents (for whatever reason).
The key ingredients are love, stability, support, and a good education. You need extreme patience, stamina, and a willingness to give up (most of) your time.
The reward is the satisfaction that you’ve done your very best to change a child’s life for the better.”
John & Mandy
“We have not fostered a child yet, but I just wanted to add our thoughts on why we have gone into fostering and hope to be given the opportunity to foster a child or children soon.
By fostering we hope to give children a safe and stable environment to enable them to grow and have positive and happy experiences to take them forward in their lives.
Fostering can really make a difference to children’s lives and that would be rewarding to us if we made a difference to children’s lives and outcomes.”
Graeme & Magie
