Foster carer Liz, shares her experinece of fostering, how it fit in with her family and the lasting impact it has made on their lives;
Last summer I was approved to be a foster carer and left my teaching job. The assessment training and process was a positive experience - I found it therapeutic and reflective. It helped me think about my motivation and expectations around fostering and tested my interest and commitment.
Bradley has just turned 18 after being in foster care for most of his life. He shares his experience and talks about what it takes to be a foster carer.
Tell us a bit about your time in foster care
Children who arrive in the UK without their parents or carers usually go into the care of their nearest public authority and will often live with approved foster carers when there is no suitable family member or guardian to care for them.
These children are not being removed from their homes by local authorities; they are leaving their home country desperately seeking shelter and protection from war, oppression or civil unrest
Fostering unaccompanied asylum seeking children is a specialist area of fostering, that can can be incredibly rewarding in it's own unique way.
Becoming a foster carer does not have to mean giving up employment and that certainly hasn’t been the case for Darren and Fiona, who both work full time and foster school age children.
Fiona works for Brighton & Hove City Council and is supported to work flexible hours. “I can log in on my lap top at 7 o’clock at night, or at the weekend. I’m not set to a rigid 9-5 schedule.”
Darren works privately for a firm that also offers him the flexibility to work evenings and weekends.
October is Son's and Daughter's Month. The Fostering Network’s annual campaign to celebrate the vital contribution that the children of foster carers make to foster care.
So we were bursting with pride this week when it was announced that a daughter of one of our Brighton & Hove foster families had won an Outstanding Contribution by Sons and Daughters Award at The Fostering Network's Fostering Excellence Awards. The award was presented to Nia at a formal ceremony by Jacqueline Wilson, author of the Tracy Beaker series.