Fostering – Making a Difference
Could you make a difference by fostering?
Across the UK more than 62,000 children are living with foster families. These children have a safe and secure environment, a chance. However it is estimated that 8,600 foster carers are still required this year alone.
Have you got what it takes to be a foster carer? Taking in a child may not be an easy decision, but it is certainly a very rewarding one and could make a huge difference to a young persons’ life. Are you energetic, caring and understanding with a passion for life? Maybe fostering is something you have never considered before. Maybe it is something you don’t know enough about to commit.
As Nicole Kidman has quoted,
“Somehow destiny comes into play. These children end up with you and you end up with them. It’s something quite magical.”
Around two-fifths of the children in care are aged 11 to 15 and finding people with the right skills to look after teenagers is now the top priority for Lorimer Fostering.
“Fostering a teenager – are you mad?”
Is often the response when people speak to foster carers who exclusively foster teenagers.
And yes, you do need particular skills to carry out what can be a very demanding job: sensitivity to a teenager’s situation, tolerance and the patience of a Saint! which can be a hard balance to strike! But there are great rewards in being able to provide stability, safety and secure boundaries to keep a young person safe, whilst also giving them encouragement and the opportunity to spread their wings and experience life to the full!
Tempted but not sure you fit the bill? Lorimer Fostering are look for people from all walks of life; you may be a single man, a career woman, a family of 6. Whatever your story, you may have the qualities required to be a fantastic foster carer. When becoming a foster carer you are certainly not on your own; you form part of the team around the child. Your fostering agency and allocated social worker will offer plenty of support and they will only place suitable children into your home. Some children may only need a foster home for just a few days, until they return to their birth family or move on elsewhere, while others may need a family to care for them for many years.
Fostering is a very specialist career, there are no careers like it and nothing can prepare you for it. But like most foster careers you get back what you put in!
“He who can reach a child’s heart can reach the worlds heart” Rudyard Kipling
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