What does Foster Care Fortnight mean to you?
Foster Care Fortnight is two weeks each year dedicated to celebrating fostering and the incredible foster carers who change children's lives every day. This year's theme, "This is Fostering," is about helping people truly understand what fostering means: not just to children, but to families and communities too.
For me personally, fostering is one of the most important services we have. It supports some of the most vulnerable children in our communities, but does so within a family environment where children can feel loved, nurtured, safe, and part of something bigger than themselves.
Why is fostering so important?
Children only come into care when something has happened that means they cannot safely remain at home. But fostering is not about replacing a child's birth family: it's about helping children maintain those important connections while giving them the stability and care they need.
Foster carers often become the bridge between children and their families. They support family contact, help maintain relationships, and ensure children understand that their identity and background still matter. That's incredibly important for a child's emotional wellbeing and sense of belonging.
What do children in care need most?
Children need to feel loved, safe, listened to, and secure. They need to know their wishes and feelings matter.
At Hometown Fostering, we believe children should have a voice in decisions about their lives, including where they live and who they live with. Something as simple as learning about their foster family beforehand, understanding their lifestyle, and feeling involved in the process can make such a difference.
Ultimately, children need to feel they belong somewhere and that somebody believes in them.
What makes a house feel like a home for a child in care?
It's often the little things that matter most. Letting a child decorate their bedroom how they want, choosing their own bedding, putting posters on the wall, or surrounding them with familiar items from their birth family can help them feel comfortable and secure.
It's also important that foster carers recognise the importance of a child's identity and family connections. Having photos of their birth family in the home and openly talking about those relationships helps children feel accepted as their whole selves.
A child should never feel like a visitor in somebody else's house: they should feel at home.
What qualities make a great foster carer?
Patience, empathy, understanding, and a willingness to learn are essential. Children who have experienced trauma or neglect often need parenting approached differently, so foster carers need to be open to therapeutic training and support.
You can't always parent a child in care in the same way you may have parented your own children. Foster carers need to understand behaviours, where they come from, and how to respond in a way that helps children feel safe rather than judged.
Above all, children need love, acceptance, consistency, and to feel truly understood.
What are some common misconceptions about fostering?
Many people still believe you need to be married, own your home, or already have children to foster, but that simply isn't true.
You can foster as a single person, with or without children of your own, and foster carers come from all walks of life and age groups. We have foster carers in their 60s and 70s who still have so much to give.
There are also many different types of fostering. Some people choose long-term fostering, while others provide respite or short-break care. At Hometown Fostering, we're particularly passionate about parent-and-child fostering and specialist fostering for children with disabilities and additional needs.
People often think fostering means giving up your entire life, but fostering should involve a strong support network around you so that carers never feel alone.
Why does stability matter so much for children?
Stability changes lives.
When children feel safe, protected, and loved, it impacts every part of their future, from education and friendships to confidence and emotional wellbeing.
Sometimes the biggest achievements are things people may take for granted: attending school consistently, making friends, learning to ride a bike, or simply feeling safe enough to relax and be themselves.
Fostering gives children the opportunity to believe in a future they may never have imagined possible before.
What support should foster carers expect?
Foster carers should never feel like they are doing this alone.
At Hometown Fostering, support goes beyond training. Foster carers should expect therapeutic guidance, dedicated social workers, regular supervision, peer support groups, and practical in-home support where needed.
For carers supporting children with complex needs, we will also provide direct support workers who can spend time in the family home and offer practical help. Sometimes, simply knowing there is someone at the end of the phone at 10pm after a difficult day can make all the difference.
Foster carers need to feel supported, heard, and valued too.
What is the most rewarding part of fostering?
Seeing the difference you've made to a child's life.
Sometimes it's the big milestones, like a child going to university. Other times it's the smaller moments: seeing them smile more, build confidence, make friends, or finally feel safe and settled.
One of the most emotional things I've heard from foster carers is: "I never thought I could love a child who wasn't mine this much."
The bonds created through fostering can be incredibly powerful. Watching those relationships grow over time is something truly special.
How does being a social enterprise shape your approach?
Being a social enterprise means people come before profit.
Of course services need funding to operate, but for us, the focus is always on reinvesting back into our children, foster carers, staff, and services. That means better support, better training, and creating services that genuinely put children first.
Our foster carers and staff are our greatest asset, and we want them to feel involved in shaping the organisation and the future of the service.
What changes would you like to see in fostering?
There is currently a national shortage of foster carers, with thousands more needed across the country.
Too many children are living in residential settings when they would thrive in a family environment. I'd like to see more collaboration between local authorities, charities, and social enterprises to create more creative, child-focused solutions.
I also think we need to listen to foster carers more, make the assessment process more family-friendly, and encourage more people to see fostering as something they can do.
What gives you hope for the future of fostering?
What gives me hope is seeing organisations genuinely trying to do things differently and put children first.
I also believe there are so many people out there who could become incredible foster carers: people with kindness, patience, and compassion who simply haven't realised fostering could be for them.
Fostering changes lives, not only for children, but often for the foster carers themselves. I've seen it happen over and over again, and that will always give me hope.