Fostering a family feeling

A SECURE home and stable upbringing is something most people take for granted. It is seen as key to successful personal development and as the best start in life.

But it’s a sad fact that some families will never be able to offer their children this ideal for a whole host of reasons.

That is where Oldham Fostering Service steps in to provide children and young people with a stable environment while keeping links with birth families.

To mark Foster Care Fortnight (May 11-24), BEATRIZ AYALA speaks to one Oldham foster family which is giving youngsters a happy home.


CHILDHOOD should be the best years of your life, filled with unconditional love and care-free years.

But many children and young people face a life of disruption, emotional, physical or sexual abuse, rejection and neglect.

It is at times like these that a loving family and secure home life is most crucial — and this is where the Oldham Fostering Service can offer a solution.

But what is long-term fostering?

Fostering is a way of offering children and young people a home while their own parents are unable to look after them.

This is often a temporary arrangement, and many fostered children return to their own families.

However, if this is not possible then the fostering service must consider the best way for them to have a permanent family.

Long-term fostering is where a child or young person who cannot return home lives with the same foster carer until they reach adulthood.

There are currently 37 approved long-term foster carers in Oldham, but there are still 10 children waiting for a long-term placement.

Long-term foster carers care for the child or young person like one of their own children, the only difference being that the local authority is legally responsible for that child.

Most children and young people will have contact with their birth families if appropriate.

However, living with a foster family provides a chance to have a settled home for those important years until they are ready to live independently.

Most children who need long-term fostering are aged from five to 10 years old, and some need to be placed with their brothers and sisters.

They need to feel secure and know they will not be moving again.

Oldham foster carer Janet Bardsley (32) and her husband, Howard (35), have two birth children and two foster children.

The couple have been offering a home to youngsters for the past five years and have welcomed seven youngsters into their family for varying lengths of time.

Mrs Bardsley said: “The main reason we started fostering is that we have friends who fostered.

“We were so impressed by what they did and in the changes to the children that we decided to do it.

“Children often come to you withdrawn with blank expressions but within a few weeks their confidence grows.

“They enjoy having the opportunity to do normal things such as going to the zoo and have that familiarity of knowing they will be doing certain things at certain times.

“We have a caravan so will stay there at the weekends, and the children love it because they can be themselves and no one knows they are in care.”

Mrs Bardsley said having a link to birth parents and families is crucial as it gives young people a sense of where they have come from.

It also helps maintains a relationship that will remain once the young person leaves foster care.

Mrs Bardsley said her birth and foster children are treated exactly the same but she always knows that her foster children can leave at any time.

She said: “I’ve had a few that have moved on, either because the placement wasn’t right for them or simply because they felt it was right for them to become independent.

“You have to accept that and move them on the best you can.”

The benefits of long term fostering include bringing stability to a child, maintaining links with birth families, and seeing children grow, develop and achieve as a result of being part of a family.

Almost anyone can apply to become a long-term foster carer as long as they are over 21, have a spare bedroom and can provide a safe, stable home.

Key qualities include being a good listener, having a sense of humour, being optimistic and having their feet firmly on the ground.

As caring for someone else’s child can be very demanding, there is plenty of support available. This includes a highly competitive salary and allowance, one-to-one support from social workers and ongoing training.

The process normally takes about six months from application to approval.

Lisa Lawson, Recruitment Officer, said: “Oldham desperately needs more long-term foster carers.

“Here in Oldham we currently have 10 children who need a foster family who will care for them until they reach adulthood.

“I am certain that there are people out there who could offer a child a permanent home and we would love to hear from them”.

For more information call Oldham Fostering Service on 0161 770 6600 or visit www.oldham.gov.uk/fostering  


CHARITY the Fostering Network estimates that a further 1,700 foster carers are needed in the North-West, and 10,000 nationally.


There are more than 72,000 youngsters in care on any given day in the UK, 51,000 of whom live with 43,000 foster families.


Foster Care Fortnight is an annual UK-wide campaign, co-ordinated by the Fostering Network, to highlight the work of foster carers and encourage anyone interested in fostering to come forward.

For more information visit www.couldyoufoster.org.uk .