Are you thinking about Fostering or do you just want to find out more about it?

Torbay Council’s Fostering team will be at the Armed Forces Day event on Paignton Green on Saturday 17 June from 10am to 3.30pm.

It is the third annual Armed Forces Day organised by the Torbay Armed Forces & Veteran Breakfast Club. The aim of the day is for the people of Torbay to thank our Armed Forces Past, present, Future and not forgetting the family’s that support them.

Nancy Meehan, Director of Children’s Services for Torbay Council, said: “We are pleased to be able to bring the Fostering team to the Armed Forces Day event as this a perfect opportunity for the local community to come together and support local people in the Armed Forces and their families.

“Providing a safe and loving foster home is one of the best gifts you can give to a cared for child, but many of our foster carers have also described fostering as a gift and a privilege.

“This is the perfect time to make a positive life change with fostering a child and if you are considering a new work/life balance. If you have flexible working hours, a spare room, and a kind heart, you could become Torbay Foster Carer.”

Torbay Council was recently accredited as a Fostering Friendly employer by national charity The Fostering Network, which means they offer a range of benefits for employees who either are Foster Carers or are going through the process of becoming a Foster Carer. These include a more flexible work pattern and a minimum of five days extra paid leave for those with fostering commitments (including meetings with social workers or other agencies, attending training and settling young people into their new home).

For more information on fostering visit our webpages or call 01803 207845.

You can find out more about upcoming events in Torbay that the Fostering team are attending via our Fostering events page. 

Local Foster Carer case study

Foster Carers in Torbay themselves also support our Fostering recruitment events.

Martin, a local Foster Carer, recently supported an event in Torbay Roadh, Paignton.

Martin said: “The best thing about fostering for myself, my wife and son is seeing children recover and grow into amazing people, especially when they have had a traumatic upbringing and disadvantaged start in life.

“We’ve lived with and supported many children and young people over the past six years. Emergency Foster Care support has given us the opportunity to be there for a child at a very traumatic and scary time in their lives. We’re 100% there for them at this time, give them a friendly, caring home for them to feel safe, cared for, valued, and believed in. They also have their own bedroom, an important personal safe space for them at this difficult time. 

“Offering regular short-term respite to other Foster Carers has given us the opportunity to regularly have the same children staying with us over several years. We have now become part of their lives and they ours, being there of them as they grow up and we enjoy this time together.

“We often met or hear from the children who we have previously cared for and knowing that we helped them to achieve the impossible is the best feeling in the world. Fostering can be hard and very demanding at times, but the positives of the role outweigh any negatives, when you can see the difference you have made to a child’s life you know you have done something right.”