Published on:
13
March 2013
Imagine being a child when your parents are unable to care for you anymore and you don't understand why.
Add to that you also lose contact with your friends and family? How would you cope if you had to start a new school and couldn't go to the clubs and activities you used to?
Wouldn't it be better if you could stay nearby? Then you could still see your family as much as possible, still go to your familiar school and maintain routines with friends and hobbies. That's what Clackmannanshire Council wants for the children in its care: to keep them close to home in secure placements, supporting them to return to their families when appropriate.
But to do that, we are in great need for more local foster carers. Could you offer a child a secure home during a difficult time in their lives?
Clackmannanshire couple, Andy and Wendy Brown are an excellent example of the kind, caring and dedication required for fostering, having fostered more than 35 children in the past six years.
They encapsulate everything required to be a foster carer and have offered a home to children within Clackmannanshire, and still remain in contact with a great many of them.
Andy said: "It is so worthwhile to see the changes in the children from when they arrive at first. You see their confidence build and their self-esteem increase as well as how they become much more independent and being able to look after themselves. Wendy and I are very privileged to be able to provide this service.
"We love the challenges it brings. When we first started it was nerve wracking, as there was a lot of training involved in the lead up to the first placement with us. The training and support we received from Social Work was excellent. We quickly grew in confidence and found it a really rewarding experience. We have had a lot of children all with different types of needs, and when they leave they always keep in contact to let us know how they are getting on."
When Andy, 36, and Wendy, 34, began fostering it was on a weekend respite basis, as they both had full-time jobs. But things changed and Andy set up his own double glazing business and Wendy became a part-time nursery nurse. This allowed them to foster on a full-time basis.
Andy added: "People are always asking us what it is like to foster and the first thing we say it carries a lot of responsibility as you are part of shaping a young person's future life. To be part of this is immense."
The couple, who in the past six years have fostered mainly teenagers, are throwing their full support behind the campaign to encourage more people in Clackmannanshire to take up fostering.
Andy added: "It is very difficult to get foster carers these days and we really do need a lot more in the county. It is something which can bring you so much satisfaction."
But such is the shortage of foster carers in Clackmannanshire that a desperate appeal is going out to follow in the footsteps of the Brown family and at the same time get the chance to help the community and experience the joy and happiness of assisting young children by offering them a home and pointing them in the right direction towards adulthood.
If you have the care and attention to give to vulnerable children and would like to find out more call 01259 450000, e-mail childcare@clacks.gov.uk or look at ClacksWeb for more information. You could make all the difference to a child's future.