We’ve been talking a lot about children in our care and care leavers, and about the support and guidance provided to help young people with their lives.
We’ve also talked about the vital role that our foster carers have in providing safe and loving homes for children and young people in our care.
But we’ve not yet talked about the pivotal role that foster carers’ own children have in helping to make foster families work well.
October is ‘Children of Foster Carers’ month, an annual campaign by The Fostering Network to acknowledge and celebrate the vital contribution that children of foster carers make in their families.
Fostering services across the UK run events and activities during October, as a thank you to foster carer’s children – a thank you for helping to make children in care feel happier, welcome, safe and more loved.
And sometimes it can’t be easy. Expectations on them are high, and there can be challenges to overcome. But their being part of the family can be what makes it all work well.
Michelle, a foster carer for our Fostering Devon service, said:
“Both our children have been brought up surrounded by fostering.
“My daughter is amazing and will act as she has seen me act. My youngest child is very similar, but loves to just be a sibling and play with them, however he notices when they are sad and can respond in a way many children couldn’t.
“When asked, both children said that the children we look after are part of our family, and we love them like we do each other. They admitted some days were hard, however none of us would change it for the world.”
Emma Nobes, our Service Manager for Fostering Devon said:
“The children of our foster carers are amazing, and they equally play a really vital part in helping children and young people in our care to settle in to their foster family home. It can be easy to overlook the importance that they have in making families work well, but we are incredibly proud of them.
“That’s why it’s important that this month we remember to thank them and show how much we appreciate the impact they have on the fostering world. It is not always an easy task to welcome someone new into your family, but these children are vital to the work we do.”
To find out more about Fostering Devon and their work and how you can get involved, visit our website.