A couple and a 16-year-old girl have shared their experiences about foster care to inspire others.
Foster Care Fortnight runs until May 29 and Caerphilly County Borough Council is looking for more people to become foster parents.
Hannah, a 16-year-old girl, has written a heartfelt letter to her foster carer, her ‘Nan’ to thank her for everything she does to care for her.
Her letter begins: “My role model is my Nan. My Nan is my foster carer and she looks after me.
“My Nan is a positive role model because she is good at her role/job. As a foster carer she cooks us food, buys us new clothes and always takes us on holidays instead of putting us in respite. Also, she attends regular meetings and training so that she can learn how to help us and speaks to our social worker when we need her to.
“My Nan is also a good role model because she is very kind because she has taken me in and given more somewhere to live. Nan has made me feel comfortable by welcoming me into her family.”
Caerphilly couple Dawn and Mark Morgan have been foster carers for five-and-a-half years.
Dawn said: “Fostering has completely transformed our lives for the better.
“We have had two teenage girls living with us since we were approved back in November 2005 who are now like daughters to us.
“Although foster caring can undoubtedly be challenging at times, we wouldn’t change a thing for the world – it really doesn’t get much better than this.”
Dawn’s husband Mark used to work a 60 hour week as an Environmental Consultant, which often took him away from home for long periods of time.
However, last September Mark decided to make a ‘career’ out of fostering, and gave up his job, and the result on the family has been remarkable.
Mark said: “We have such a fantastic relationship as a family now, and I am now also so much closer to the girls now that I’m at home so much more.
“Our lives have most definitely been enriched since welcoming the girls into our home, and I really feel that I’m now able to be the dad I was never able to be when my own children were growing up because of my commitments in work at the time.”
Caerphilly County Borough Council is currently looking to recruit foster carers who would be willing to care for children over the age of ten.
Foster carers must be 21 years old or over – there is no upper age limit. As well as full training and continuous support, foster carers are also given financial assistance, including generous fees.
Cllr Judith Pritchard, cabinet member for social services said: “Many people I speak to are surprised to hear that the only criteria necessary to be eligible as a foster carer are to have some space in your home and time in your life – those who work aren’t excluded, neither are those who rent their property or those with disabilities.
“Although fostering is a very big commitment to make, the reward of seeing a child that has been in your care go on to make a good start in life is fantastic, and the full training and continuous support we offer our foster carers, I hope goes some way to making their lives that little bit easier”.
For more information visit www.caerphilly.gov.uk/fostering or call 0800 587 5664.