Single parents make great foster carers

Fostering had always been on Caroline's radar. She'd attended several fostering information events, but the timing had never quite been right. As well as being a single mum, she had a busy full-time job at the local council. "I had a friend who fostered and worked full-time as well, but I didn't think that would work for me. I worried I wouldn't be able to foster well at the same time as doing my job which often involved working overtime at short notice, or dealing with a crisis in the middle of the night." With hindsight, this prepared her brilliantly for her later role as a foster carer. 

"I was made redundant and thought about fostering then, but wasn't quite ready so I did a couple of courses about early years care. And then my friend prompted me again and the time was right for me."

Caroline always knew she would foster with her local council. "It just made more sense to me to foster local children." As a single parent, Caroline didn't think it was any harder going through the assessment process. In fact she thought it might be easier as she could make her own choices about when to attend the classes and the training. 

Training

"I found the Skills to Foster training very engaging with lots of opportunity to ask questions. I'm approved to foster 0-18 year olds, sibling groups of up to 3 and/or one or more planned respite placement. My preference is for children aged 5 and over, although I seem to have looked after more teenagers than children.

Caroline considers the training she has received with Thurrock council to be excellent. She believes that education is power and has done almost every course available on a wide range of topics. She attends the local foster support group and has a network of friendly foster carers she meets up with. Experience with domestic abuse in the past gave her unexpected transferable life experience skills. And skills from her office job have seen her become secretary of her local foster care association. "I like to be involved, help to make change, improve things and work with other foster carers." 

The best thing about fostering

Caroline says the best thing about being a foster carer is knowing you're changing a life, giving children a childhood and a better way to grow up. Fostering is rewarding, but it's also challenging. "It can be hard to build relationships with children who've never had any boundaries, but when you've made a child's life easier and happier, it makes it all worthwhile."  Caroline has looked after about 30 children since being approved, including some unaccompanied child asylum seekers. She offers respite and emergency foster care too. 

"When kids who normally live with another foster family come to me for respite care, perhaps because their foster family is away, I turn their respite care into a holiday for them too. We go out, do things and have fun. I'm a young-minded foster carer with a liberal approach and I seem to just get on really well with young people."