A couple from Stone who have been fostering children for 15 years have spoken about their experiences to encourage other people to consider a career in foster care.
Tom and Anne Wardle are featured in Staffordshire County Council’s ‘Seeing potential, changing lives’ video, which aims to find ‘resilience foster carers’ to look after some of the most challenging children and teenagers in its care.
The service currently has 78 children in residential care, including a number of teenagers, who need foster homes. Amongst these children are a group of extremely vulnerable youngsters who have often been abused or neglected by their birth parents and who may have experienced a breakdown in a previous foster care relationship.
The council believes that this group would benefit most from the stability of a family environment and is seeking people who have experience of working with young people with severe behavioural and emotional difficulties – something experienced foster carers Tom, a retired policeman, and Anne, a former health visitor, both have.
Since taking their first foster child in 1998, Tom and Anne have provided a loving home to a number of children and young people. Now, through the resilience foster care scheme, the couple will soon be welcoming another child, who is currently living in residential care.
Tom said: “Fostering can be incredibly hard work, but to see the children we’ve fostered settle into our family, grow and progress, makes it a very rewarding job. During my time as a policeman I’ve seen the difficulties that such children can find themselves in. They’ve had life experiences that mean they need intense nurturing.
“Anne and I began fostering in order to make a difference in the lives of children and young people in care. Fostering does not bring about immediate gratification; however you do observe small changes in behaviour and attitudes, that allows you to understand that you are making a difference.”
Anne added: “It’s amazing to see a child really thrive in your care and become confident and healthy. To be part of that is special and very rewarding. We wanted to help guide young people to better outcomes and a decent future. This aim has not changed as we have progressed through various fostering models and authorities.
“Our current move to Resilience Fostering, suits our ability to work with children and young people that have challenging behaviours; with the support of a professional team that approach issues in a family style.”
The resilience foster care scheme is seeking people such as retired policemen, prison officers and residential carers, who may be looking for a second career and have experience of working with or caring for children with challenging emotional and behavioural needs. They must be prepared to dedicate their skills to the full time care of a young person and be emotionally available at all times.
Speaking about the campaign, Staffordshire County Councillor and Cabinet Member for Children’s Wellbeing Mike Lawrence said: “We really want families like Tom and Anne, with the desire to help and the qualities to make a difference to come forward and foster a child. We know that these children will have a better chance in life if they find a foster family who can support them into adulthood, and if they have a stable, loving family environment they have a much better chance of fulfilling their potential.”
“Of course, fostering such vulnerable children can be extremely challenging but it is also immensely rewarding and we need people with the right skills and personal qualities to come forward and help change a young person’s life.”
In recognition of the extraordinary job that resilience foster families do, they get an excellent package of emotional, practical and financial support. The county council pays a professional fee of £450 a week and a weekly allowance of up to £159 once a child has been placed with a foster family.
If you think you have what it takes to change a life then visit www.staffordshire.gov.uk/changealife now. You can also find out more by calling 0800 169 2061 or texting ‘Foster’ to 60003.
