From speaking to our own carers we know that fostering isn’t something that people decide to do overnight. Many of our current foster carers say they thought about foster care for many years before taking the plunge.
But what makes people finally say yes? There is an urgent need for foster carers throughout the UK and with so many people thinking about it, what can we do to help them to take steps to begin the process?
We asked two of our current foster carers what made them go from thinking about fostering to becoming foster carers.
Both of our foster carer couples said the same thing, it was a change of circumstances that enabled them to start the process.
An extra spare room
Most people can foster, but one requirement is that you must have a spare room. This was the case for Daniel and Angela, they had wanted to foster for a long time but having children already they would need a 4 bedroom house in order to have the spare room needed to begin their journey into fostering. As soon as they got the house they had wanted they immediately began the process and have now been foster carers with us for 12 months.
A new relationship
Yvonne had always wanted to be a foster carer but kept putting it off and it was only when she met David that it became a reality. She told him she had been wanting to become a foster carer and he said: “let’s do it”. David and Yvonne have now been foster carers for over five years.
There are other triggers as well as changing circumstance, people often put it off because it is “not the perfect time”. If we are completely honest the “prefect” time will never arrive.
An empty nest
For a lot of our carers, children that have left home or gone off to university is the reason behind making the initial call.
Our carers say that being in a quiet house after many years is something that they couldn’t get used to.
Picking up the phone to us at Fostering Ltd doesn’t mean there is no going back. We will just have an informal discussion about what is involved. If you think you might not be able to foster right now due to circumstance we would still encourage you to make some initial calls and gather information, talking to us and our existing carers who are always more than happy to share their advice and experiences.
