fostering a child?

[jenna]

it says on the council website that you have to be over 21 to foster also that you can be single, married unmarried. im only 18 but DH is 25 so does that mean we could foster as a couple?

any one else thought of fostering a child? Weve been talking about it for a while now and i think we would make a lovely family for a child, it just seems daft that theres children with no homes and we have a home with out a child... obvieslty we wouldnt want to foster until we bought a house and got settled.

 

[Krystal]

me and my ex went to see social services about fostering, I was actually surprised at how easy it was, and I was 21 at the time, they didn't look down their noses or anything like that. we went on this course thing; Unfortunately circumstances changed so I didn't pursue it any further.

good luck though, i think its fab thing to do. hard work cos you do have to work with the parents too and some aren't too friendly then the obvious one.. you have to give kids back at some point.

 

[Sherlock]

I'd contact them and ask as tbh I am not sure.

I think if you are both wanting to foster, then chances are you'd both have to be over 25. If only one of you fosters, then the other will have to pass all kinds of checks anyways.

A friend of mine fosters, she has 3 of her own, all in their teens and she now fosters 4 other kiddies.. She says its hard work and there are lots of rules and regulations to meet, but she enjoys it. However, there is a lot of baggage that has come with them and its often a really emotional trying experience both for her and the children. Its also very limiting in some ways as with her own kids, she could take off camping for a weekend without a second thought, but with the children she fosters, it has to all be planned and permission sought etc.

Its a wonderful thing to do if you feel you are able to offer a stable sercure environment, possibly long term. Be really sure its something you can and want to enter into as its a big commitment.

And fostering is not meant to be a permanent solution. Some children stay long term with foster parents, but for many its only a short period of time and they are gone again. Are you sure you could cope with this possibility?

Good luck with it all. I am all for it and would love to do it myself but as yet have not been in a situation where I can.

 

[jenna]

i looked on the council site and it says that at first you just have meetings to discuss what types of fostering there is and wether its right for you. I know you wont get a child the next day or anything itll take a while before you actually start doing it. We just both thought that it'd be great for us and it'd be helping a child at the same time and we were looking up more information about it all. But it says you have to be over 21 (which DH is) but would he be able to foster while living with me or not i guess we could just arrange to see someone

 

[grace]

i dont know anything about it but i wanted to say that i really admire people who foster children. good luck

 

[mrs_tommo22]

As a child in care once myself I admire anyone for even thinking anout fostering.

Beyrl my foster mother has won awards for the many years she has done it and she helped alot of young girls like me and turned us from little *******s too respectable people within society. Not everyone is a success story though.

You will be given a age range males/females you want too foster. Personally i would foster younger children due to my age.

The only advice i have is have your own children first, and I know its a touchy subject Jenna but my mum knows what she stalking bout! she said her only regret is fostering when her kids livedat home, she said her kids lives were made doubly harder by the teens living there as well - they had things stolen, they were physically attacked, the house got wrecked, the police were around with a certain teen girl that lived there and the list goes on!

Its a very rewarding thing to do though, but hard when you have developed a relationship with a child and they move on, or just walk out. Its hard to get over that and you havw to be very strong emtionally too cope wih it and have a amazing support network.

Good luck. soprry if i sound negative but i saw what happens when you get a sod like i was move in and cause chaos!!!

 

[jenna]

thanks for the advice. I know there will be bad points as well as good which need to be considerd as well. We had an offer accepted for a house this morning so hopefully wont be long till where settled in then where going to go to a carers meeting they do so you can meet foster parents and get advice. I think they do 4 a year so might be one this year we can go to. Would be nice to go and listen to other peoples experiances if nothing else.