Alison’s fostering story
Foster parent Alison from FCA South East shares her journey from teaching to fostering. Here is her story
After 37 years in the classroom, I was always determined that I would retire as close to my 60th birthday as possible. I wanted to spend my retirement finding out more about life and enjoying new experiences, be it volunteering, learning new skills or travelling.
I was aware that I would miss the company of young people and the joy of being with them as they grew and discovered the world around them. I felt I still had skills to offer. An invitation from the FCA fostering agency to attend an introductory meeting to looked interesting and a warm welcome from the social worker encouraged me to go further.
I opted for short term fostering; I welcome children and young people for just a few days or weeks. In some cases it may only be for 24 hours: I currently welcome a young person every month for an overnight stay. The reasons why the young people need to come to me vary: it may be because their full-time foster parent is ill, or there is family illness, a bereavement or a holiday was booked before the child came to live with them.
Since retiring eight years ago I have welcomed around 20 young people aged between 5 and 17. and have greatly enjoyed being with the children who have stayed with me. One young man came to me every summer for two weeks from age 11 to 17. He first appeared as a very shy, nervous boy but grew into a confident adult who was ready to take on the world. The longest period that a young person stayed with me was an asylum seeker who was with me for 11 months. I’m an approved parent and child carer and have welcomed two new mothers with their babies for short breaks. There have naturally been one or two challenges, I have learnt how to manage type 1 diabetes and epilepsy, but our training gives us a good basis and the social work team is very supportive. There are regular support meetings for foster parents and it is always a pleasure to get together.
The approval process begins with a short introductory course which is designed to give the prospective foster parent an understanding of what is involved followed by training with and assessment by a social worker. I found the training to be thorough; it often covered aspects of child development that I wished I had known more about during my career in education.
I have appreciated the flexibility of being able to say when I could welcome a child and when it was not possible. This has entirely fit in with my retirement plans and so doesn’t interfere with being able to accept opportunities to enjoy the theatre and cultural life and to take trips abroad. Information about a child is usually provided in advance and I only agree to welcome children if I am confident that I can offer them a good experience; as it’s just me at home that can be very important. In addition, the fostering allowance has provided a very welcome top up to my pension. As a Waspi woman this has been particularly beneficial.
Becoming a foster parent has been one of the best decisions I have ever made and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Spending time with some wonderful young people, having fun with them, listening to them, cooking and gardening with them and laughing with them has helped to make my retirement truly special.
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