Care and support

Comments from fostered children, foster carers and the children of foster carers

Children who are fostered made these comments

“I was fostered after the death of my mother. I was 14 at the time. I had missed a lot of schooling during year 9 as I was spending most of my time looking after my mother. I also lost a lot of schooling in year 10 due to my grieving over the loss of my mother. With the encouragement from my foster carers and social workers I was able to catch up and eventually obtained nine acceptable GCSE’s. I am now 19 and completing a three year college course in business management. Within the next couple of months I will be leaving my foster parents and moving into my own flat. I am expecting to go on to do a foundation degree course in the autumn.
I am sure I would not have achieved all this without the support and encouragement of my foster carers, social workers, connexions and subsequently the leaving care team and I know this support will continue into the future.”

“At first you are too scared to say anything, always saying “yes please” and “no thank you” and trying to be as polite as you can.”

“Some people tease me about being fostered and sometimes they might call me a racist name.”

“When you get a good foster carer you feel like you belong somewhere and to somebody and you’re not just by yourself.”

“Fostering has done for me what other parents would do for their own child.”

Here are some comments from foster carers in Hertfordshire about what they think of fostering:

“Its rewarding, but hard work”

“You are part of a team”

“I get very good support from the Family Placement Team and from my supervising social worker”

“You never stop learning”

“All children and their families are different”

“Some of the things the children have been through make you feel very sad”

Pearl, who is retired and who started fostering a teenager 18 months ago, says “Everybody has something to offer a child in need. We have really enjoyed seeing our foster child settle in and start to do well in school. Fostering is not easy, but we have received lots of support from the Fostering Team and found that listening to the children is the most important skill of all.”

Foster carers’ children are a very important part of the team too. Here are some of the things they have said:

Lucy, aged 11, says “People have their different opinions of whether they think fostering is good or bad. I think it can be both. The good thing is that you either have someone to play with or may be someone you can look after. I enjoy looking after babies.”

“The bad side is they have way too much energy. After a while you want to relax rather than having something going on every minute of the day.”

“You feel great thinking you helped them get through the hurt of not living with their mum or dad.”


Here are some of the messages children who foster wanted to give to children whose family are going to foster:

“You need to be patient”

“It is not always easy”

“Be prepared for anything”

“Have fun. Do not keep things to yourself – speak out”

“If you do not enjoy sharing – do not do it”