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Jo Craddock became a foster carer in her twenties three years ago. Until recently Jo was a teacher but has given this up for the time being to be available to foster children that need a carer to be available full time: ‘People think that teenagers are always trouble, but that isn’t true. There are so...
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Josephine McClelland has offered respite care to over 40 children in the last eight years: ‘When the first child arrived in the house it took some getting used to. Our own children had all flown the nest, so we were used to living in our own quiet comfort zone. But once I was used to having a child back...
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Elaine Hopkins-Smart and Keith Hopkins have been fostering for 12 years and at the moment look after unaccompanied asylum seekers: ‘We find that when children come to us they have lost their confidence – their self esteem, their identity. By the time they’ve been here for a while, and we’ve gone through...
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Joan Abbott has been fostering teenagers for 21 years: ‘People forget that teenagers need someone to care for them as well. Being a teacher at a secondary school I knew the ways teenagers act, I knew the clothes they wore, and I could get on with them better and could relate and understand them. copyright...
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Sian and Owain Edwards have been foster carers for nearly four years. Sian runs a youth centre and Owain is a part time GP: ‘Fostering is an opportunity to give somebody else a chance. The children we care for make progress. Sometimes it’s one step forwards, four steps back, but you are always building...
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Sharon and Stuart Okin recently became foster carers but had been thinking about it for years: ‘The type of care we offer at the moment is short-term and emergency care, so we will offer maybe one weekend a month or maybe two weekends a month for a child where needed. Juggling our careers with foster...
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Russ Summers and Sue Stone have been fostering for a year. Russ quit his job as a lorry driver to become a full-time foster carer: ‘Of course it’s difficult when a child leaves, but you always have to keep their needs central. When children have gone from our house we’ve had a party, inviting everyone...
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Pauline Ockerby is a foster carer and a classroom assistant. She has been fostering for 15 years: ‘The most challenging part for me is trying to support these children when they first arrive as they are often quite traumatised. There are so many rewards when a child realises that they are safe. copyright...
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Tom and Linda Mathieson have three children aged 11, nine and eight and are childminders as well as foster carers: ‘As foster carers we have learned to listen, encourage and communicate. Our own children have been really involved and cooperative and made good friends with all the children even if they...
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Linda Baldry is an experienced foster carer who has looked after more than 100 children: ‘I had a one-year-old arrive with cerebral palsy, and at that time he couldn’t even sit up without assistance. He had to spend a whole month in hospital due to complications with his condition. ‘He’s four now, and...