“I suppose you could say that fostering is in our blood” explains Nicky. “We met when we were both working at Nexus Fostering and gradually, over the course of a few years, decided that we would like to become foster carers, too”.
“We’d both seen the challenges and successes foster carers at Nexus have had and felt we wanted to be a part of something so rewarding. We felt we could offer a safe, caring and financially secure home to a child or young person.”
Although they would’ve loved to become foster carers with Nexus Fostering, as employees of the agency, their positions would be compromised, so they opted to foster with their local authority instead.
As with all foster carers, Nicky and Chris went through a thorough assessment process. “The initial enquiry to foster was daunting, knowing we would be sharing personal information with colleagues we knew professionally. In fact, we found the process enjoyable and realised it was nice to have time to talk and think about ourselves, our life stories, our achievements, struggles and challenges. Doing this gave us a better understanding of the skills we needed to foster, as well as the training and development we would require. Our background in social work, gave us a better understanding of the emotional, practical and developmental pressures applicants go through during the assessment process.”
Following their approval to foster in 2010, Chris gave up work to become the main carer and, together, they’ve fostered teenagers and an eight year old girl.
Nicky and Chris are happy with life but it’s not always been ‘plain sailing’: “We’ve faced challenges that have had both positive and negative outcomes. We’ve learnt a great deal about ourselves and the children and young people we’ve cared for so far. We have had some heartache as well as a lot of fun and laughter and we hope it will continue for many years to come!”
If you’d like to become a foster carer with Nexus Fostering, please get in touch.