Jo’s weekly blog – Too Young To Foster?

It’s always lovely to hear people say that you look young.

Sadly, the only time I really hear that phrase these days is when that person goes on to contextualise it by saying that I look too young to be a Foster Carer.

It’s true that we are young in the perceived view of what a Foster Carer should look like.  People associate fostering with people who have already had their careers and their own families and would now like to ‘give something back’ in their later years.  This is probably very true for a lot of Foster Carers, but as my husband and I are proving, it’s not the only case.

The reason why Capstone ask me to blog for them is because they would like for people to engage with my writing and use it as a stepping stone to perhaps looking on www.capstonefostercare.co.uk to find out more about becoming a Foster Carer themselves.  It’s already started working, and I get a lot of people from my own circle looking at taking the next steps after engaging with me and my writing.  Lovely!  I think it’s important then that I do put myself out there to show that there isn’t a set age for becoming a Foster Carer, and, regardless of age, if you can make it through the fostering application process, it’s because you’ve personally got something great to offer a potential child.

Think of it as a job market.  Do you hire the older applicant who is more experienced, more revered and less likely to jump ship in favour of a new direction?   Or do you hire the younger applicant, who is more relevantly qualified, has more energy and is fresh for the new challenge ahead?  It’s a tricky question to answer without meeting and getting to know the person in question, and that’s exactly the same thing in the fostering application process.  Both age-groups have things to offer, and for a child in need, that’s the most important thing,

Remember that if you are a ‘younger’ Foster Carer, there is so much you can offer and so much you will undoubtedly bring to the lives of the children and young people you will care for.  If a forward-thinking agency like Capstone selects you, they’re basing it on YOU – and I for one am delighted that for people ‘so young’, they clearly saw something in us.

I don’t know where life will take my husband and I, but I’m glad we’re giving this fostering thing a go right now – may it be something we do at many different points in our hopefully long and happy future!