Foster Care Stories
Allan’s Story
“What really swung it for us was the not-for-profit angle. The profit that Team makes really does go back into the care of the children.”
Allan and his husband Pete are foster carers in Yorkshire. They started their fostering life with Team Fostering around five years ago.
It wasn’t an uncomplicated route towards fostering for Allan and Pete. After they originally decided to become foster carers, they met with another agency. But after an initial meeting that made them feel very negatively about fostering, especially as a same-sex couple, they decided that maybe it wasn’t the right thing for them. A neighbours’ aunt made them reconsider.
Allan said: “She was already fostering with Team Fostering, and she said ‘go and do your research, here’s a list of agencies to look at, but I can tell you now Team Fostering will come out on top.’ So we did – and she was right!”
“What really swung it for us was the not-for-profit angle. The profit that Team makes really does go back into the care of the children and you can genuinely see that it does, and not just via the activities, but the psychological support, the educational help and the life skills training. Everyone wants the best for the young people.”
When one of their earliest fostering matches became difficult, Team Fostering were immediately there to help too.
Allan said: “Team were absolutely amazing – it was a really hard three months, but staff would turn up regularly, tell us to go out and take a break, and we felt completely supported throughout. And we had some lovely young people after that who really restored our faith and our confidence in ourselves as foster carers.”
However, at a time like this, it’s important that foster carers also feel they can afford to provide for the children and young people they support, and with Team Fostering’s fostering fees, he agrees that they can.
He said: “We’re really well paid. It’s great to know that if you want to do something with the children, you can, because you can afford it and help them to make new memories.”
If you’re considering fostering with Team Fostering, you can find out about the pay and benefits provided by our agency here, and read information about why we’re a not-for-profit agency here.