4 January 2008

The Rewards of Fostering

In any one day around 2,500 children and young people are living with foster carers in Northern Ireland.

Fostering is about caring for children who are unable to live at home. This could be for a number of reasons which prevent birth parents from looking after their children, for example, health or social issues, relationship problems or lack of support. Fostering provides security and stability for a child in such circumstances.

Myrtle and Cecil Rainey from Portadown have been foster carers for 14 years. They first became carers when the youngest of their own four children had reached 18 and they felt that they still had a lot more to offer as parents.

Myrtle says: “Whilst we first discussed the idea as a family, our initial step into the fostering arena was by responding to a newspaper article highlighting the need for potential foster carers to come forward.”

Over the years, the couple have provided a wide range of foster placements to children from various backgrounds and all walks of life. They have cared for around 30 children of various ages, the youngest being an eight month old baby, ranging to older children and teenagers. The couple have provided respite, short-term, long-term and emergency foster care and their longest placement lasted 10 years.

Cecil adds: “We thrive on being active and busy and have found that fostering can at times require high energy levels in terms of managing meetings and appointments in relation to the various children. We also think it is very important to give equal time and commitment to all the children placed in our care and also to balance this out with the needs of our own family life.”

The couple say that their own children and grandchildren have been very supportive and understanding over the years and fostering has become just another part of their family life.

They also add that working with social services and birth parents has been a positive experience for them.

Whilst the Raineys acknowledge that fostering can be a challenging experience, they are keen to point out that it is one they really enjoy. On the rewards of fostering they conclude: “We get great satisfaction from assisting children and young people who are perhaps facing very challenging situations and circumstances. We are always delighted to see children that we have cared for come out the other side and it is particularly rewarding when a young person that we have cared for in the past gets in touch.”

Foster carers are ordinary people of all ages from all types of family situations who can offer a child or sibling group a loving family. People who can help a child recover from the reasons why they came in to care. If you think you might have what it takes, please pick up the phone today.

To find out more about fostering contact your local Family Placement Team:

Armagh and Dungannon Tel: 028 8775 2033

Craigavon and Banbridge Tel: 028 3833 7181

Newry and Mourne Tel: 028 3083 2692/3