Tracey and Chris, Northiam

Why did we want to foster? We felt we could offer a needy child a nice home, we wanted to help other people it wasn’t to have children as we have our own already. Also as a mixed race couple we knew that our local authority needed more foster carers of different ethnicity. Our children didn’t have a lot of say as they were a bit young, the youngest was only 2 years old. Our older one Matty, was aware for example of poverty in parts of Africa and that not all people are living as he does.

As a mixed race couple we knew that our local authority needed more foster carers of different ethnicity.

Why do we love fostering? It’s enriched the lives of us all and particularly the children it’s helped them to realize that not everyone is as fortunate as themselves. For Chris and me the reward is the pleasure in seeing children responding to just simple things like a bed, regular meals and a home life, getting some normality into their lives.

There are challenges and one I would say is the challenging behaviour some children have and how to deal with this. You know you can’t do the same as you would with your own children because it’s caused by things in the child’s background, there are some things you learn to steer clear of.