Foster carers, city leaders and Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s fostering team have come together to share experiences and celebrate their work to support vulnerable children and young people.
The event, held by Stoke-on-Trent City Council in the King’s Hall, Stoke last week (Wednesday 15 May) was organised to recognise and thank foster carers for the valuable work they do. Foster carers held a bake off competition and displayed a wall of over 1,000 paper hearts – one for each child in care in the city and each with a message written on it.
Katy Bostock and her husband have been foster carers for 13 years and have fostered over 35 children. They have fostered on a short-term, long-term, emergency and respite basis.
Katy said: “As a child I grew up watching Home and Away - I always wanted to be like Pippa. It was always a discussion with me and my husband but it was never the right time, always something got in the way. But when our daughters were four and two, we had seen an advertisement for fostering and the time was just right. We looked at different agencies but decided to go with our local authority as it just felt right for us to keep the children in their city.”
Sue and Bob Yeo began their fostering journey 22 years ago when their children were teenagers. They said: “We had thought about fostering for some years before finally deciding when the right time was for us. Our children were the most important part of our decision making so after many discussions with them we made one of the most life changing phone calls for us as a family.
“We still hear from some that we have cared for. Many of the children we have cared for are now adults. It’s great to hear from them from time to time and we are proud to have been part of their life.”
Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for Children’s Services said: “We know that children who are able to be cared for locally in a supportive home environment have better life outcomes.
“We recently announced an increase to the fostering skills payment to allow foster carers who wished to, to care for a second or third child. It’s great that this has already had an impact but we still need more foster carer to help keep children local, in the city they grew up in.
“Fostering is very much in the public consciousness right now – with stories on TV programmes from Beyond Paradise to Doctor Who. I’d urge anyone who has a spare bedroom and wants to make a difference to the lives of children in Stoke-on-Trent to consider fostering. We’re committed to reducing the number of children in care and finding children safe, loving homes.”
The city council continue to need additional foster carers who can offer care for children both long and short term. We are also looking for foster carers who can provide emergency and respite foster carer, meaning there are opportunities for foster carers to provide respite and emergency placements over weekends, even if the foster carers are not available on weekdays.
There is no typical foster carer and Stoke-on-Trent City Council fostering team is keen to hear from anyone who has a spare bedroom, lots of love to offer and wants to make a difference to the lives of children in Stoke-on-Trent. Age, gender, religious or cultural background, sexual orientation or relationship status will not be taken into account when assessing fostering applications.
Anyone who would like to know more about becoming a foster carer in Stoke-on-Trent can visit fostering.stoke.gov.uk or call 01782 234555.
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