Pride Month: LGBT Foster Carers
June 1st is the start of Pride Month and Barnardo’s is keen
to hear from any LGBT couples interested in being foster carers to vulnerable
children. We think this is such an important topic and
when we read Stephen and Wayne’s story we knew we had to share it with our
readers.
Stephen and Wayne White describe fostering through Barnardo’s as “the
best thing we’ve ever done”.
Stephen, a 34-year-old manager, and Wayne, a 30-year-old part-time
care-worker, live in Coleshill in Warwickshire.
They were approved for fostering in December and it was just a few weeks
later that they were introduced to a young boy, Thomas (not his real name), now
aged eleven.
Stephen said: “We both come from large families where several of our own
relatives had been fostered or adopted and we always considered them to be
genuine members of our family - they were simply our aunts, uncles or cousins.
“So, when the time was right, we started to do a lot of research into
fostering and the different charities and agencies involved.
“We settled on Barnardo’s because it was so established and well-known,
and they clearly put a great deal of effort into matching the right family with
the right child.
“The preparation and training was very thorough, and some of the
questions seemed intrusive but that was totally understandable as they needed
to know everything about us.
“They weren’t just testing us – they were ensuring we’d be matched with
the right child.”
They were approved by a panel in December and then a few weeks later
their Barnardo’s social worker told them about Thomas, who needed a long-term
foster placement.
Stephen and Wayne visited him at his temporary foster home, joining him
for meals so that they could slowly get to know each other. He showed them the books in his room, and they left an album of photos
showing their house, their friends and family, and even their cat, which he
could browse through at his own pace.
Thomas has only been with the couple for a few months but there have
already been several positive changes.
Stephen said: “We’ve had lots of very positive feedback from people
who’ve known him longer than us – they say he’s speaking a lot more, and he’s
smiling a lot more. He’s also doing really well at school.
“His own personality is starting to shine. I like singing, and he does
too, so we often enjoy singing along in the car together.
“It’s nice to do things he’s never done before so we’ve taken him on a holiday abroad for the first time, which was also his first time on an
aeroplane and he’s opened our own lives to more experiences – he’s into
football so we recently went to our first match together!”
Stephen concluded: “Fostering has changed our life completely but we’ve
never doubted that it was the right decision.
“There are tens of thousands of children out there with nobody to love
them, nobody to cuddle them and care for them, so why not make the biggest
change you can make to someone’s life – providing them with a loving and stable
home.
“It’s the best thing we’ve ever done.”
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