The Power of Relationships: Carol’s Story
It’s Foster Care Fortnight from 12th-25th May. Organised by The Fostering Network, a charity and membership organisation, Foster Care Fortnight is a time to celebrate the remarkable difference foster carers make to children’s lives, and to raise awareness of the ongoing need for new foster carers. The theme for Foster Care Fortnight 2025 is The Power of Relationships.
Carol has been a foster carer for TACT since 2010. She is highly experienced and is one of our Foster Carer Reps – a role that involves representing other foster carers in her region and providing help, support and advice. We talked to her about the different relationships and connections that are important to her.
Family Support
“I think through my whole journey of fostering, it’s got to be my husband. He’s always been there, even when I worked full time. I’ve got three daughters who are very supportive.
“My daughters, they’re always there if we need something. I’ve got four children with me at the moment. Things do clash, as in we’ve got two that play football, we’ve got acting, we’ve got gymnastics. If I’ve ever got anything that clashes or we’ve got a parent’s evening, I can always turn to one of my daughters and they will always help out.”
“We had a young girl – she came to us aged 11 and left when she was about 19. I saw her yesterday – she’s doing amazing. She texts me every day, she comes up to see me every week. She’s got a full-time job, she’s just in the process of buying her first house. I’m so proud of her”
Carol, TACT Foster Carer since 2010
Young people
“We’re very family orientated. We’ve got two little dogs and two ragdoll cats. The kids love animals. I’ve got three daughters and six grandkids, and they make the children welcome.
We travel a lot – the children are very well travelled. We take them abroad three times a year. They just love their holidays – getting on an airplane is like getting on a bus to them!
I had a Parent & Baby [fostering placement]. I looked after the baby until she was adopted. She’s 11 in July. We still see her, we keep in contact with her – she knows who we are. We talk a lot and meet up. It was one of the hardest things we did, but we’re very lucky because we’re still in her life.
We had a little boy who went back to live with Grandma, and we’ve seen him quite a few times. Then we had a young girl – she came to us aged 11 and left when she was about 19. I saw her yesterday – she’s doing amazing. She texts me every day, she comes up to see me every week. She’s got a full-time job, she’s just in the process of buying her first house. I’m so proud of her, after everything she’s been through – to be where she is. She changed her name to our name when she was 18!”
Supervising Social Worker
“We’ve got an amazing relationship. She’s very supportive. If she doesn’t answer the phone, she will always ring me back. She’s never ever not rung me back. And she will be there, even if it’s on a weekend, just checking in on me, making sure everything’s OK.
I’ve always had amazing social workers with TACT. I’ve been with TACT over 14 years now and to be honest, I’ve really only had three social workers in the whole time I’ve been with TACT.
It’s just the consistency, and I think you don’t get that with a lot of other jobs. I speak to other foster carers because I know a lot of other foster carers that work for local authorities and other agencies and they’re like: ‘What do you mean? You’ve only had that many social workers?’”
Other Staff at TACT
“I can ring Andy [Andy Elvin, TACT CEO] and he would answer, or he would ring me back. To be able to pick up the phone and ring your CEO and him answer. The same with a director or even a trustee, you know, I’ve never had that before.
I just find that you can talk to them – that you’re not just a number.
“TACT are like a family – it is very close knit. We’re bigger now than when I first joined, but we still got that ‘family’ feel. I can just ring someone or I can just WhatsApp my social worker and they’d ring me.”
Other Foster Carers
“If I’ve got anything that’s a concern, I’ve always got someone I can contact. I’ve got quite a few carers that are really close, that I buddy up with – and I help them as well.
“I’ve got a really good friend who is a carer who is at the end of the phone. She will ring me and I will ring her, and we know if the phone’s rung three times that it’s something we need to speak about! Most days we will text each other, just to see if everything’s going OK.
“I think sometimes it’s just that contact from another foster carer. I do have a WhatsApp group, so all the carers can contact me anytime. I do keep in touch with a lot of new carers that go through Skills To Foster. They’ll often just send me a message. It might just be a quick question (no questions are silly questions!). But sometimes it could be something that’s worrying them at the start of the journey.”
Fostering is all about relationship-building. It’s about a family coming together to help make a difference, and it’s about forming relationships with other professionals with one goal in mind: to provide a stable, caring and nurturing environment to enable children to thrive.
However, the true power of relationships is demonstrated by the bond between foster carer and young person. It’s this connection that enables the healing, growth, and eventual resilience in children. It establishes trust, empathy and a sense of belonging and self-worth.
The power of relationships in foster care cannot be overstated. It’s what empowers young people to rediscover their voice and realise their potential.
Read more about Foster Carer Fortnight.
Read some of our inspiring Foster Carer Stories.
TACT are supporting Foster Care Fortnight 2025. #FCF25
