Fostering: Knocking doors for carers as numbers fall

Frances was a foster carer for 23 years

What does it take to be a foster carer?

"Patience, patience and patience."

That's what Frances - a foster carer for 23 years - believes you need to do the job. Over the years she has fostered 17 children as a single parent, but has now retired.

Losing carers like Frances means health trusts are continually on the lookout for new ones.

The Belfast Health Trust's fostering services team has even knocked on doors to talk to people face to face about fostering.

Frances said it was a privilege and a joy to have been a foster carer.

"I had one little boy who came to me like the ad, if you remember the old ad from television, and he was grey. Within a few months he was a happy little boy which is what you want for every child," she said.

"Every child deserves a good start in life."

Lisa Duffy said it was rewarding seeing the children grow in confidence

For Lisa Duffy, who has fostered more than 80 children in the past 16 years, it is all about love.

She is currently fostering three boys.

"I just love the fact that you can see a child coming to you and maybe they're just not the best but you can see them growing confident, you can see them starting to trust you a wee bit more," she said.

"If they take your hand that's amazing. Maybe you've had a child for two years and you haven't had this and all of a sudden they take your hand and say I love you. It just melts your heart."

Margaret said she misses the "wee faces" since retiring

Margaret Lecky has just retired after 20 years of fostering and already she misses it.

"We've had day-olds, week-olds, two three-week olds and had them up to a-year-old, two-years-old, some of them even three years," she said.

She admits that letting them go at that stage is really hard and that she kept telling herself she would never do it again.

"After they go you do you're crying, you're wailing and all the rest of it and then the next thing the phone rings: 'Margaret would you take on another?'"

Which, inevitably, she would.

Now she misses the "buzz of it all and those wee faces".

Jackeline Wetherup said people of any age can foster

With foster carers like Margaret and Frances retiring, Jackeline Wetherup finds her job even more difficult.

She works for Belfast Health Trust's fostering service and said there were never enough carers, which led to the new approach of knocking on doors.

"Particularly post Covid we've seen an increase in the number of children coming into care and an increase in the number of families needing support in the community," she said.

As well as recruiting carers, Jackeline has fostered herself and she believes people should not rush to rule themselves out from giving it a go.

"It doesn't matter if you're a single parent, whether you're married, same sex couple," she added.

"Age is another thing - people would say I'm too old to foster. You're never too old to foster."