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Fostering stories

“A stable home life has helped me develop into the person that I am today. What I have done at school is largely down to my foster parents”
Jaz
18, Humberston

Hear from our foster carers

Fostering stories

Reads: We are extremely proud of James and how they are making positive changes in their education, and we look forward to supporting them into further education.
Reads: Presenting an award to a child at her foster home - the pride of the whole foster family who gathered around to celebrate with her was totally heartwarming.
Reads: They (foster carers) have gone above and beyond to support a young person in their care. They even turned their bathroom into a Harry Potter-themed room!
Reads: Foster carers are a hugely important part of our permanency team. We would not be able to do our jobs without the experienced ones we have.
Reads: Good foster carers see the good in all children and do not judge their backgrounds.
Reads: Good foster carers to me are ones who maintain relationships with the children and adopters many years after they have moved to their new family.
Reads: Children change when they come into care, they become more relaxed and they find themselves. Their smiles and faces change!
Reads: ''A world without your kindness brings me nightmares, but when it does, you comfort and put me at ease' - from a poem by foster child, Skye, for her foster mum
Reads: One child said: 'i love being in foster care as I love the rules and the dinners'
Reads: Having someone at the end of a phone to support me has helped maintain my wellbeing and kept a stable family unit for the foster child.
Reads: A foster child was doing the sack race and he kept falling down. The other children had finished but were loudly cheering him on as the TA helped him to the end. It was lovely seeing the support.
Reads: When a child told me she finally felt safe with her foster carer and placed her suitcase on top of the wardrobe because she knew she was staying.
Reads: I completely admire a local foster carer who is willing to advocate for the children in her care, even when professionals don't recognise the difficulties they face.
Reads: Seeing so many children grow up absolutely blossoming through the love they receive from their foster carers.

Read the stories of a young person in care and some of our foster carers, to find out about their experience of fostering.

Hear more from Jaz, an 18-year-old from Humberston who has been in the care of foster parents for 13 years.

Keen to shake off the stereotype that foster children are “naughty”, Toll Bar Academy 6th form student Jaz has said that without the support of her foster parents, she “wouldn’t be where I am today”.

Jaz, who is hoping to get the grades necessary to study at Leeds Beckett University in September, has lived with her foster parents Sue and Ray since 2003, after her mum struggled to cope with looking after her and her two siblings, and put them up for care before fleeing to live in Australia.

Thirteen happy years down the line, Jaz has said that a stable home life has been the key to her living a “normal” childhood. She said: “I just think of it as an ordinary way of living. I’m not different because I’ve been fostered it’s just a different way of living and it’s been a happy home life.

“A stable home life has helped me develop into the person that I am today. What I have done at school is largely down to my foster parents and if I was still with my mum, I don’t think I’d be where I am today.

“I get treated like a part of the family and haven’t been separated or anything. I’ve been cared for like I’m their daughter and they would do for me what they would do for their own son.”

With it widely being reported that there is a national shortage of foster parents, Jaz added that taking on the role is a “great opportunity” to help change a young person’s life.

She said: “I’ve heard of people having bad experience with foster parents but this has been the best thing for me. I’m proof that the system does work.

“I’ve got a lot to thank my foster parents for because without them I wouldn’t have done as well academically. They really have been a mother and father figure for me”.

“Being a foster parent is an amazing chance to really help someone and get a lot of good outcomes for themselves.”

Bethany and Teresa do a mixture of long-term and short-term fostering

”As a lesbian couple we were initially worried we would be scrutinised and discriminated against. However, we’ve not found this to be the case at all. We have been treated with the same standards that any heterosexual couple has been.

Fostering has enriched our lives, it’s brought us many new friends and challenges. As well as some amazing children whom have touched our hearts and will remain in our hearts for many years after they have left.

If fostering or adoption is something you’ve ever considered I’d most certainly get in touch, it’s the most amazing thing to do in the world.

Providing a child with a forever family or being part in a child’s path to finding their forever family is the most rewarding thing in the whole wide world to do.”

Contact details

Fostering and adoption, Fostering and adoption, New Oxford House, 2 George Street, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, DN31 1HB

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 01472 323966

Opening times: Monday to Friday 9am to 4:30pm, except bank holidays

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Enquire about fostering now

If you are interested in becoming a foster carer you can get in touch by completing our fostering enquiry form or by calling 01472 323966.

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