17th May 2023
HSC NI Foster Care was proud to co-launch Foster Care FortnightTM at Parliament Buildings on Monday 15 May, The Fostering Network’s annual campaign designed to raise the profile of fostering and show how foster care transforms lives.
Attended by foster carers, social work staff and policy makers from across Northern Ireland, alongside the Assistant Permanent Secretary for the Department of Health, Peter Toogood, the event was the perfect opportunity to celebrate our foster carers, reaffirm our commitment to do the best for our children and young people, and also encourage more people to consider fostering.
With the continuing rise in the number of children and young people needing foster care, the need to recruit more foster carers is greater than ever. Foster carers and their families make a real difference in the life of a child/young person who cannot for a variety of reasons be cared for by their parent/s.
Kevin and Lorraine, HSC NI Foster Carers, say:
“Our neighbours who were foster carers inspired us. Our children were aged 7, 9 and 12 years old when the first foster child arrived in our home. As a family with 10 years’ experience of fostering, our children tell us that although they found it hard at first sharing us and our home with foster children, they feel the experience has made them more understanding and caring young adults. Our youngest says he is going to be a foster carer!”
The HSC NI Foster Care community is made up of a rich mix of carers from a variety of backgrounds including couples, single people, ethnic minorities and members of the LGBTQ+ community, to reflect the diverse needs of the children and young people who need a loving and nurturing home.
Una Carragher, Manager at HSC NI Foster Care, says:
“We appreciate very much our foster carers who continue to provide high-quality, safe and stable care for our children and young people. Our children and young people come for a range of religious and cultural backgrounds and we are making every effort to recruit a diverse range of foster carers to care for them”.
Kathleen Toner, Director of the Fostering Network, says:
“We need people in our local communities to consider foster care. In doing this you will enable children and young people in your community to stay in their local school, to maintain contact with their friends and minimise the disruption they will experience”.
If you have been thinking about fostering for some time, maybe now is the time to take the next step to foster for your community. We will provide training and financial allowances and support you every step of the way.
To find out how you could become part of HSC NI Foster Care’s foster care community, call 0800 0720 137 or visit adoptionandfostercare.hscni.net.