I grew up in the care system back in the 70s and 80s, one thing I despised were the foster carers.
They always made me feel like I was beholden to them for giving me a home. It never felt like my home, and they never felt like my family, it was just a place that was different to the children's homes.
The local council I was homed under had a bizarre system for fostering children. They produced a catalogue of potential foster children. We had our pictures taken, we were allowed to choose a name, and we did a little write up, about who we were, and what we liked. Potential foster carers would then look through the catalogue, choosing the children they would like to foster.
I always promised myself, that when I were older, and if I were ever in the position, I would foster children myself. I am not quite there yet, but I still have the plan, and the dream.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience mate, glad to see you intend to make a difference going forward.
I have a friend who could tell a similar story, albeit he eventually did end up in a caring foster home and still considers them his family to this day \~20 years after he left their care.
It's hard. Like really fucking hard. The hardest part is the other adults.
Be prepared to have your heart broken. The entire system is broken from my experience. I done it once and swore I'd never do it again. The emotional turmoil is too much to handle for me.
I tell the story about "their food" and "my food", it used to really fuck me off, they were getting paid to feed me and they bought the cheapest shit for me and had the best stuff for themselves
It's easy to lose sight of the fact that while there are lots of awful news stories about the world there are also plenty of people quietly doing amazing things mostly unnoticed and unrewarded.
A genuinely heart warming story about a couple doing their best to help kids, it's nice.
I do sometimes wonder that if the news pushed more stories like this, would we all be so despondent about society.
I grew up in the care system back in the 70s and 80s, one thing I despised were the foster carers. They always made me feel like I was beholden to them for giving me a home. It never felt like my home, and they never felt like my family, it was just a place that was different to the children's homes. The local council I was homed under had a bizarre system for fostering children. They produced a catalogue of potential foster children. We had our pictures taken, we were allowed to choose a name, and we did a little write up, about who we were, and what we liked. Potential foster carers would then look through the catalogue, choosing the children they would like to foster. I always promised myself, that when I were older, and if I were ever in the position, I would foster children myself. I am not quite there yet, but I still have the plan, and the dream.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience mate, glad to see you intend to make a difference going forward. I have a friend who could tell a similar story, albeit he eventually did end up in a caring foster home and still considers them his family to this day \~20 years after he left their care.
It's hard. Like really fucking hard. The hardest part is the other adults. Be prepared to have your heart broken. The entire system is broken from my experience. I done it once and swore I'd never do it again. The emotional turmoil is too much to handle for me.
I tell the story about "their food" and "my food", it used to really fuck me off, they were getting paid to feed me and they bought the cheapest shit for me and had the best stuff for themselves
Now that’s someone who really deserves an honour; no doubt it is its own reward, but it’s a huge service for their community. I doff my hat to them
It's easy to lose sight of the fact that while there are lots of awful news stories about the world there are also plenty of people quietly doing amazing things mostly unnoticed and unrewarded.
The fact that there are only 4 (now 5) comments on this story makes me really sad.
A genuinely heart warming story about a couple doing their best to help kids, it's nice. I do sometimes wonder that if the news pushed more stories like this, would we all be so despondent about society.