by Charlotte, age 15
When considering fostering, my mum and dad asked me and my brother our thoughts on fostering. We didn’t really know much about it at the time, so we listened to what they had to say and they left us to have a think about whether it was something we would like to do.
We have since been fostering as a family for nearly three years and we can happily say we have enjoyed it.
f – friendship
We have made lots of new friends since we started fostering. We attend the young foster groups and have great fun with girls and boys of similar age. Our social workers are always friendly as well.
o – opportunities
We’ve attended the Skills to Foster course, which gave us the opportunity to voice our opinions and learn more about helping others. I love helping to look after the children. I’m learning new skills everyday, which will help me when I’m older too.
s – sharing
Being a part of a foster family means you have to share quite a lot. We share our home with children, we share our toys and personal belongings and we share our time. Most importantly we share our mums and dads, but that’s not too bad because our mum and dad have a lot of love and time to share and as we grow we are becoming more independent each day.
t – time
Before fostering we probably didn’t appreciate how much time our parents spent on us. We now give our time to help others and it’s a great feeling.
e – emotion
It’s ok to show our emotions, saying goodbye to the children is hard, and it’s ok to be sad.
r – rewarding
Being part of a family who fosters is very rewarding. We aren’t a family with super powers, we just love being able to help children who need us. We keep them warm, safe and happy.
