Bob and I had planned for quite a while to become foster carers, and even purposely bought a bigger house. Soon after we’d been cleared to welcome someone else into our lives, we went from zero children to three – which was quite a shock! Our daily routines changed and there was an overwhelming responsibility placed on us.

The first few weeks were hectic. We met with their school, social workers, opticians, GPs and the dentist. But we’d been fortunate to have our families help us immensely. We also had a superb team at our fostering agency TACT, and local authority social services.

It has now been six years since the children came into our lives and we still love fostering as much we did on day one. A year into fostering them, the children were placed with us permanently, which enabled us to plan for our futures and think about what steps to take next.

As a family we have developed and learned so much about each other and ourselves.  We have discovered that children don’t really want materialistic things in life, they would much prefer having time spent with them. We found that education isn’t just gained in school, holidays, meals in restaurants, trips to the park or even just visiting friends and family all enabled the children to learn new things. By offering our time and attention, they’ve been able to blossom and find their own personalities.

It’s been a real pleasure to watch the children gain confidence and grow into the people that they are today. Each of them has succeeded in their own way, from learning to read, interacting with others, performing on stage and horse riding to name a few achievements. The children are doing fantastically well in school – one has moved to high school and one moved into a new school which is closer to our home. Having three children in three different schools can be a logistical nightmare at times, but we took the decision to do that as we believed it was the right step to take to improve their education.

Bob and I got married in 2017 and it was a real family affair, with the two boys as our best men and the girl as our bridesmaid.

We both feel an immense sense of pride in being able to have such a positive impact on the lives of children who may have been through trauma. It is hard work, and at times we are faced with challenges, however that is part and parcel of being a foster carer. The children have enriched our lives beyond recognition, and we would recommend becoming a foster carer to anybody.