Foster couple encourages others to open their homes to children in need

As part of Foster Care Fortnight, two of our foster carers, Joanne and Rob, are sharing their experience in the hope it will inspire others to think about fostering.

Joanne and her husband, Rob, first talked about becoming foster carers when they married in 2000. Fostering is something they had always considered because both Joanne and Rob had previously worked in the care sector and felt that they could offer a safe home for children or young people in need.

Joanne and Rob have two teenage children of their own who both live at home. Speaking about their decision to start fostering, Joanne said: “We had always spoken about fostering, but it wasn’t until the funding for the programme I was working on as a health visitor stopped that I was looking for a new career opportunity. It was this change in my life that made me really think about becoming a foster carer. We always felt like it needed to be a family decision when we did begin to foster, so it has always been really important that our own two children were involved from the beginning. It was as much their choice as it was ours.”

In May 2018, Joanne and Rob were approved as foster carers with us and are currently foster parents to sisters on a long-term basis, which will mean they will both stay with the family until they can live independently as adults.

For more information on foster care contact Five Rivers Child Care on 0345 266 0272 or visit www.five-rivers.org.