Don't be put off by the F-word

Guest blog post by Sally O'Neill (@sallyone), St Christopher's Trustee

Most of us went to school with one. Many of us count them amongst our friends. Most of us admire them but think “I’m not qualified to do that”.

 

I am, of course, talking about fostering. We have all come into contact with foster children and foster carers, but maybe not even realised it at the time. Yet, according to The Fostering Network, there is a shortage of around 8,600 foster carers across the UK.

 

How can that be? So many people capable of loving and caring, plenty of people with parenting or childcare experience, and thousands already living in a safe and secure family environment. Yet we still have children in care who long for love, help and support and the chance to develop and thrive.

 

So, with just four days left of Foster Care Fortnight (On Twitter #FCF2014), which aims to raise the profile of fostering and attract new recruits, I wanted to share my thoughts to get you thinking.

 

As a Trustee of St. Christopher’s Fellowship, this campaign is particularly important to us as we are seeing such huge demand for foster carers, from Birmingham to Essex, Cambridge to London. As a result, we opened a new service in Peterborough in January too.

 

There are many people who have the perfect qualities of a foster carer, but often think they might not qualify. The #guesswhofosters campaign is dispelling some of those myths, highlighting that you can be young or old, straight or gay, religious or atheist, single or married. We already work with some amazing people who are living proof of this – check out our video to meet some of them.

 

All we ask is that they have the child’s best interests at the heart of everything they do, and ultimately want to help improve a child’s life and create a brighter future for them. We can do the rest – they become part of our own family of St. Christopher’s foster carers, a highly supportive group of like-minded people. We offer support and training so carers can provide a safe and caring home where children will thrive. With 140 years of experience in helping children reach their potential, we often hear how rewarding foster caring can be.

 

So it’s really important that we all spread the word to convince more people to become foster carers. And contrary to popular belief, it’s not just babies and young children that need foster parents – teenagers and older children with special needs also need guidance and a family environment where they can feel safe and secure.

 

So don’t be put off by the F-word. Don’t rule yourself out. Encourage others who might never have considered it. You might surprise yourself. Now is the time to make a difference to a child’s life. Start here.

 

As one of our St. Christopher’s foster carers in the video says: “You don’t have to be anything special, just be capable of loving and caring. That’s the job.”