Fostering was something I had always wanted to do. From an early
age when I saw a neighbour looking after a little girl from London,
I encouraged (probably nagged) my parents to do something similar
and before long we were looking after a child during the holidays.
Although this child was never officially my foster sister, I always
thought of her as such and we are still very close today.
Luckily for me my husband Johan was also keen to foster and when
we had had our two birth children we began to think about it
seriously. We felt that we had the time, space and the love to give
another child – it was more of a case of why shouldn’t we as
opposed to why should we!
Mary was our first foster child and came along quite soon after we
had completed our assessment and training as we were exactly what
Social Services felt she needed. We liked the idea of offering a
permanent home to a child as we felt that our birth children (then
aged five and eight) might struggle to understand children coming
and going. This way we would be welcoming another member to our
family and she would stay forever. It didn’t take long for other
children to follow - 36 in total over the last seven years - and
all the children have coped fantastically with the coming and going
after all!
Mary settled well. We had some off days but then don’t all
families? We certainly would not be without her and think of her as
our daughter. She is nearly 16 years old now and is wonderful. She
has good contact with her mother and her older siblings. We all get
together from time to time and we positively encourage Mary in
those relationships.
Mary has brought so much to our family and we certainly would
not be without her - it has been an absolute honour being her
foster family.