Karen and John have fostered for Team Fostering in the East Midlands for almost 4 years, and shared their fostering journey with us… 

“Fostering was something that we thought about doing over 20 years ago, but with our own children we wanted to spend time bringing them up before starting our journey as foster carers.

We loved raising our family and we wanted to share the safety, love, respect and guidance that we had together with a child or young person who hadn’t had that in their own life. Basically, we wanted to make a difference.

During our time as a fostering family we have learnt so much about ourselves. It’s made us realise how strong and grounded we are as a team and the tight bond that we share. Sharing this with a child and bringing them into a family that cares about them and wants them to succeed is so rewarding and has developed us as a family and individually. It’s brought out qualities that we didn’t realise we had.

The role is just amazing. We feel so humbled in our journey to date. For young people to come into your home nervous, anxious and uncertain and for you to see them grow in confidence, self-worth and self-belief is beyond words.

We are really happy with Team Fostering as an agency. From our first point of contact when we first enquired about becoming foster carers we received openness, honesty and respect. There wasn’t any pushiness or intense pressure to recruit us, we were able to ask our questions, hear the information and then allowed to step back and form our own opinions and conclusion. The staff we spoke to were knowledgeable and professional, reassuring us that no questions were silly questions. Now we’re approved and working with the agency, we really feel like part of a team. A team whose aims and objectives are to meet the needs of each and every child. We’re so happy we chose to foster with Team.

Our advice to those considering fostering would be that it’s not something to rush into and it’s important to speak with Team Fostering about how the role will impact your life. Consider those around you and how they might feel about it, particularly if you have your own children. It’s such a rewarding role but not without some challenges, however the agency supports you through these times.

Fostering suits us, we love the lifestyle and looking after our young person and the rest of our family full time. We have more time to invest to the young person in our care which means we can help them with all parts of his life. Having time to listen, guide and support him to make positive life choices and develop his skills is wonderful and we’re so glad we began our journey with Team.”

 

We’re on the lookout for foster carers across the North East, Yorkshire and East Midlands.

Whether you have some fostering experience or are completely new to the role we offer innovate training, comprehensive support and competitive fees to help you flourish in your role.

For an informal chat about fostering, our agency and how you could become a foster carer, you can speak with us in the following ways: