More than 200 Reading children are in foster care with Brighter Futures for Children, the independent, not-for-profit company which runs children’s services on behalf of Reading Borough Council. More local families are needed to help them live their best possible lives. In the second of a short series on fostering, we hear from foster carers’ own children about how the experience has changed their lives.
Fostering is not only life-changing for the children being taken into care but also for the sons and daughters of foster carers.
Children of foster carers, known as foster siblings, play a vital role in helping young people in care feel welcome and part of the family.
Their contribution is so important. Sharing their home with different children can be hugely beneficial for them as well as the children and young people in care.
Annabel was only eight, and her brothers 11 and 13, when her parents decided they wanted to welcome foster children into their Reading home.
Now 18, Annabel said: “I have liked everything about fostering and we work well as a family to help care for the children.
“We hope they will always feel like part of our family for the duration of their stay and I think this is important.”
Unsurprisingly, fostering has had a big influence on Annabel’s life, and she is now making childcare her career.
She said: “Fostering gave me lots of skills and experience with children and made me want to work with them. I am now training to be an early years’ practitioner at a local nursery. I enjoy fostering and I’m looking forward to meeting lots of new children over the years and making a difference to their lives.”
Eliza* was nine when her parents started fostering in Reading; she is now 25.
She said: “Although I already had two younger sisters, I always looked forward to another sibling, or two, joining our family. We all had so much fun together.
“Saying goodbye at the end of their stay was always hard but I absolutely loved having them live with us for a while and I felt like we were able to give them all the love they needed during that time.
“Although I have been living at home on and off since I was 19, I still love being a foster sibling. It continues to give me so many unique experiences and I feel so proud to have grown up as part of a foster care family.”
Brighter Futures for Children runs a fun group for foster siblings called the Foster Squad. It is a place where foster carers’ own children can get together, take part in activities and share experiences about being foster siblings.
To find out more about fostering in Reading, visit www.readingfostering.co.uk, call 0118 469 3020 or email foster@brighterfuturesforchildren.org.
*Name has been changed to protect people’s identities.
