Claire, Olly, Billie & Hattie's story of fostering as a family with children at home

Read Claire, Olly, Billie and Hattie's video transcript

Claire: The surprising part of being a foster carer is, it's the little things,

Olly: Even 20 years down the line, we're still learning about the fostering journey, it's an evolution.

Claire: My standout moment in fostering is when I woke a young child up to ask if she'd had a good night's sleep, and she told me that she had her head was quiet, and for me, I knew she was in the right place.

Olly: Our fostering journey happened quite a long time ago, we were young, and we myself and wife, experienced miscarriage couple of times before we actually had our own children.

Claire: My husband and I naturally explored other avenues for having a family, then successfully fell pregnant, went on to have two children, but having already explored adoption and fostering.

Olly: Claire sort of went, I sort of don't want to bring any more children into the world. When there's kids that need homes.

Claire: If you're watching a film on a Friday night, to have another child cuddling in and, you know, their hand dipping in the popcorn or the crisps, then we very quickly decided that actually, it just made complete sense to bring another child into our family home.

Olly:We've always preferenced sort of long term fostering, just because that suits us. And also, I think it's about giving security for children as well. And we've done it for probably 24 years plus now, and we've had, I don't know, 20 plus children.

Hattie: I'm so proud of my Mam and Dad. Like fostering, it's just been a massive part of our lives. I think it's really made who me and Billy, are and we very grateful for what we do now, because we are better people for it.

Billie: When a child first arrives, yes, a carer can sit and talk and try and play with them, but nothing's going to be as comfortable as the other children living there, playing with them and and also have that normal kind of sibling relationship. So moan about your parents, moan about things not being fair, or rules or because that's a normal part of a family as well.

Claire: Currently we have two 17-year-old girls, one young lady who's been with us since the age of six, and another young lady who's been with us just over a year now.

Olly: The second 17 year old was actually somebody that the first 17 year old has known since primary school. They would walk to school together. Our daughter would get a cup of tea from me, and then take it out. And we became aware that there were some problems.

Claire: We heard about the placement breakdown, with it being the last year of her school, were incredibly aware about the impact a change of placement could have on her.

Olly: And we just felt that we were in a position to offer a little bit of stability, because the alternative for a 16 year old girl probably wouldn't be another foster placement. Certainly wouldn't be within the area, and was more than likely to be a home, which comes with its own problems. And she wasn't that sort of kid. She just hit a little bit of a sort of a rough patch sort of thing.

Claire: We decided to take her in just before Christmas.

Olly: And we're now 16-17, months down the line, and we've still got her, and we've got no plans for not to be part of the family. 

Claire: So it's nice to see them grow into the young ladies that they are now, and really they're just normal teenage kids. It's really important that the child knows their identity and knows their background. We've never wanted to be a replacement for their parents. It's really important when it's assessed as suitable, that contact with parents continues. That's quite often what the child wants too, so we're just an addition to their lives being foster parents.

Olly: As carers, you're not you're not psychologists. You're not, you know, psychiatrists. You're not there to solve every problem for the child. For me, you give them a solid base. You give them somewhere that they feel safe, somewhere they feel loved and somewhere they feel valued. Not making them feel any worse for a situation that they've not had anything to do with being in. To be honest with you, that's what's worked for us.

Billie: My family have had an incredible fostering journey. It's always been a part of the family, and I think it's amazing to know that we've been part of that jigsaw piece. It's made me very so appreciative what we have in life, and it's really

Hattie: And it's really grounded us.

Olly: And the one thing that I found that people maybe didn't realise is that you might be only able to offer one weekend a month, that there will be a place for you in the system. You will able to offer some respite, which might stop a placement breaking down, or might give them the freedom to the family to carry on doing what they're doing. 

Claire: So yeah if you're considering fostering, I would say to you, reach out. Do it.  Reach out to your local authorities. Ask more questions and explore. Take that first step.