Across the UK, thousands of foster carers open their homes to provide love, stability, and care to children and young people in need. But many more foster carers are urgently needed to ensure every child can be matched with the right home for their individual needs.

That’s why, from 12–25 May, The Fostering Network is running its Foster Care Fortnight campaign – a nationwide effort to raise awareness of the incredible impact of foster care, and to inspire more people to consider becoming foster carers. It’s also a chance to say a big thank you to all foster carers for their remarkable dedication.

This year’s theme, ‘The Power of Relationships’, celebrates the meaningful connections that transform lives. Throughout the fortnight, voices from across the fostering community will be sharing stories of the powerful relationships that make a difference every day – from the bond between a foster carer and a child, to the vital support of social workers, friendships within the fostering community or the connections with birth families. These relationships shape lives, create stability, and open up new possibilities for the future.

How can you get involved?
You don’t need to be a foster carer to support Foster Care Fortnight. Follow The Fostering Network on social media, and help spread the word by liking and sharing their posts. The more people who hear about the life-changing impact of fostering, the greater the chance of finding more homes for children who need them.

Thinking about becoming a foster carer?
Foster carers are urgently needed to provide safe, nurturing homes – whether for a night, a few months, or several years. By fostering, you can make a lasting difference in a young person’s life.

Learn more about Foster Care Fortnight and how to become a foster carer at www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/get-involved/foster-care-fortnight.

Foster Carers make all the difference – Could you be one of them?

Foster carers make a real difference to children and young people, giving them a loving, stable and nurturing home for as long as they are not able to live with their birth families, and helping them to thrive.

Every year, tens of thousands of children across the UK need fostering and this means that thousands of new foster families, from every part of the UK and all backgrounds, are needed annually.

There is very little that could rule you out from being a foster carer. It is a challenging role but one of the most rewarding things you could do.
Each year, thousands of children and young people across the UK need foster carers while they can’t live with their own families.

This means thousands of new foster carers are needed every year to provide children and young people with a stable, loving home.

Fostering is an extremely challenging role, but for many foster carers there is nothing more rewarding than helping a child or young person flourish.
Just as the children and young people in care come from all sorts of backgrounds, so do foster carers.

There is very little that rules someone out from becoming a foster carer – so if you think you have the skills and desire to change a child’s life.

Find out more at www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk

Your Stories: Patrick and Sandy share their fostering journey

Some of my earliest memories relate to fostering as my family started fostering shortly before I was three. I remember both excitement and anticipation of new foster siblings arriving, as well as hiding behind a chair when some adopters arrived to take their baby (no transition time in the 1960s).

I eventually had three long term foster brothers who are all still very much a part of our family, and my parents also cared for over 120 other babies and children over the next 40 years or so.

However, the main reason that Patrick and I started fostering came from wanting something positive to come out of a somewhat traumatic experience which involved pneumonia, sepsis, an emergency C-section and a premature baby.

We only ever intended to do short term and emergency care, which we did for ten years. This changed in late December 2014 when we were asked to care for an extra special baby for ‘a few weeks to a few months.’ Ten years later, he’s still with us: life with him has taken many twists and turns but has also given us the opportunity to develop unexpected skills.

Patrick has a great reputation at school for adapting battery toys to make them accessible, and I can tell people far more than they’d probably want to know about a blended ketogenic diet.

If you’re inspired by Sandy and Partick’s story, get in touch to start your fostering journey with us today. You can help us keep children and young people in their hometown when they need someone to look after them. We’re the only not-for-profit fostering agency in Reading and part of the Local Authority Fostering South East hub.

To find out more about fostering email Local Authority Fostering South East at info@lafosteringse.org.uk or call them on 0300 131 2797.

What inspires someone to become a foster carer, Q&As with those making a difference

1. What inspired you to become a foster carer?
   When I was a child my family fostered children, when we had our own family, we looked to sharing family life as we knew it with other children that didn’t have the same experience
2. What’s one of the most rewarding moments you’ve experienced as a foster carer?
   Moments to remember are so many. I love the first true belly laugh, young people opening up about their lives, enjoying playing games with the family,
   I love the look on their faces when they realise you have their back and will fight their corner in a reasonable and adult way. I love when they come home even when they have moved on, the texts I receive daily from placements now leading new lives.
3. What advice would you give to other people thinking about fostering?
   Take a chance, be brave, ask for help, advice and support to help you on your journey no question is silly. Look beyond the behaviour.
4. How do you balance fostering with other aspects of your life?
   This is always challenging as I always want to help make their lives the best they can be, but with the help and support of the service and my social worker I try hard to give myself time and to understand that my own family also need me to themselves at times and I mustn’t feel guilty about this.
5. Can you share a story of how you have empowered or inspired a child in your care?
   I have really enjoyed helping young mums to parent their babies by being honest and encouraging praising the small things and watching their confidence grow and being there for them when they are home making a family life for themselves.

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1. What inspired you to become a foster carer?
   I spent a period of time in both residential and foster care as a child. It was a difficult time, and I didn’t feel the adults around me understood how I felt. I wanted to use my experience and insight into the child’s perspective positively.
2. What’s one of the most rewarding moments you’ve experienced as a foster carer?
   Meeting the children of a person we fostered and seeing how they have parented in a positive and loving way so unlike what they experienced prior to becoming looked after. Knowing that the time they spent with us made a difference and gave them a blueprint for parenthood.
3. What advice would you give to other people thinking about fostering?
   Be prepared to have one heck of a ‘ride’, it can be both joyous and overwhelming. Nothing else I’ve done has taught me more about myself and been more rewarding and challenging.
   If you want to change and enrich your life, go for it. But be prepared for the long game…sometimes you won’t know just how much difference you have made until years later. But you will make a difference.
4. How do you balance fostering with other aspects of your life?
   This is tricky but I have learned to ensure that I have protected time for me when I can ground myself, process whatever is going on in my life or the lives of those children I care for. Usually this involves lifting weights or a muddy walk in the woods.
5. Can you share a story of how you have empowered or inspired a child in your care?
   This little girl was mute when she came to live with us. The world was a terrifying place for her. One year later, now a chatterbox, she asked me if I loved her. She learnt to talk, she learnt she was lovable. She asked the bravest question a little person has ever asked me. Actually, I believe she empowered and inspired me.

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