Lizzie, 37, and Ben, 37, Londoners for 11 years, qualified as foster carers in 2021. Since then, the pair has looked after three children while local support services helped the families get back on their feet. Both work – Lizzie is a civil servant, and Ben is a UX designer.
We support our foster carers with weekly fees, Blue Light card discounts, annual allowances – for birthdays, holidays, religious activities and more – and a council tax discount. Our foster carers can earn up to £2,279 per child per month.
Can you tell us a little about the young people you've fostered over the last four years?
Our first foster child was an amazing 13-year-old who stayed with us for just under a year. The second was an 11-year-old boy who was with us just under six months. We're currently caring for a seven-year-old. She been living with us almost a year and a half.
Tell us a little about meeting your current foster daughter
She is absolutely remarkable. When she was coming to live with us, we filmed a video of our flat. To help her imagine what we, the flat and her bedroom looked like.
When she arrived, she had a list of things she wanted to ask. The first one was 'can we plant a flower together?' – because in the video of the flat we'd showed her our plants and said we could look after them together.
It feels like a really big deal becoming a foster carer, but actually as soon as you start caring for a child, it's just a thousand really small moments of support and conversations.
Do you have any special memories of your time together?
She'd not been on a train before, let alone to the cinema, the theatre or a farm. So, we're really slowly trying to expose her to all the amazing things without overwhelming her.
We've seen a huge increase in her confidence and self-worth.
We've been really mindful of embracing her ethnic and religious identity and help her foster that within herself.
We've celebrated Eid, birthdays and Christmas. We've also found an Islamic tutor who's helped her understand more about what it means to be Muslim. Ben and I join those sessions, so it's a collective family experience. And we've attended helpful training sessions and spoken with other foster carers about supporting children with different ethnicities and religions.
Why did you decide to become a foster carer?
During the pandemic we started to become aware that there was a massive shortage of foster carers, and we just started talking about whether we could be short term foster carers.
Once the conversation started and we understood the need, and the difference we could make, we didn't look back.
Would you recommend becoming a foster carer?
I absolutely would recommend it. It's so rewarding. Some days can be hard but it's always absolutely worth it. If you're even slightly considering it, look into it.
Why did you decide to foster with H&F's Fostering Shared Services?
We were fostering with a different service, but we transferred to this team because they have an outstanding reputation and we found the social workers, children's support team, virtual school, clinical psychologist and training excellent. Speaking to the other foster carers is also invaluable.
What would you want to tell someone thinking about applying to be a foster carer?
There is no one type of foster carer – you can be any age or sexuality, from any background or culture, single or married, with biological children or without, self-employed, renting or homeowners. Don't let your circumstances be the blocker.
Register your interest through our Fostering Shared Services website.
