HULL / AGILITYPR.NEWS / May 17, 2024 /

“The pride we feel from watching children in our care grow is the most amazing thing.”

Meet Lee, Stewart and their family

Hull-based Lee and Stewart are a married couple and dads to five children – aged from 2 to 16. Fostering is a way that they can give back to the community and make a difference to the lives of children and young people. As foster carers they have the skills and compassion to help vulnerable children, whether that means helping them ultimately reunite with their biological families or find a new forever home. There’s always room for more in Stewart and Lee’s hearts and home.

A family affair: involving the whole household

Lee and Stewart knew that fostering couldn’t be a decision that they made solely as a pair and that they needed to involve the whole family.

Lee said: “It was important that our families were part of the process and that they were happy and onboard because they've got to deal with the emotion too. Not just the emotions involved in children coming into our care, but children moving on. It's a whole family process for us, it's not just the two of us.”

The couple discussed how their children have been an incredible asset in the fostering process and showed their gratitude towards them, Lee continued:

“To see our children interact with any children we've got in our care and take them under their wing and just treat them like they are any other sibling is wonderful and it's amazing to see.”

Celebrating milestones and firsts

When asked about their favourite part of being foster carers, Stewart knew instantly. He said his highlights were seeing his foster children’s unconventional ‘firsts’. For example, the first time a foster child ordered what they wanted from a menu or went trick-or-treating for the first time.

“Our foster son pretty much lived on chicken nuggets and chips so the first time we took him to a Chinese restaurant it just blew his mind. He’s now an absolute fiend for duck wraps!” laughed Lee. 

He continued, “also things like his first Halloween, he's seven and up until last year he'd never been out trick or treating. Those simple things that we've always taken for granted, things that are our everyday. Some of these children haven't experienced those firsts and it’s great to be on this journey with them.”

“It’s not just a job, we get to be dads 24/7”

Lee and Stewart discussed how fostering is far more than ‘job’. 

Stewart said: “if fostering is ‘just a job’ then it’s the “best job in the world!” He continued, “we get to watch them grow, develop and become the people that they were meant to be, rather than them being defined by whatever issue caused them to have a rough start in life. The pride we feel watching children in our care grow is the most amazing thing.”

Why The Foster Care Charity?

Lee and Stewart chose to foster through The Foster Care Charity after doing a lot of research and ultimately picked us thanks to our extensive training programmes. 

“When we decided to go down the fostering route, we did a lot of research. We looked at the whole package, especially the support and the training and went with The Foster Care Charity because the training package is huge.”

They also explained that the matching process was extremely thorough; something that they were very grateful for.

“Obviously they don’t want the placement to break down. We don’t want the placement to break down. They want the best for everybody and we want that child to be able to thrive with us,” explained Stewart.

Stewart turned to Lee and gave his final thoughts, “the agency’s just been really good, hasn’t it? We highly recommend them.”

ENDS

The Foster Care Charity | https://fostercarecharity.org.uk/

Established for 25 years, The Foster Care Charity (FCC) is an ethical, not-for-profit UK fostering organisation and registered UK charity that supports foster carers across England. 

Since its inception in 1999, FCC has built a strong reputation for excellence, always putting the needs of looked after children first. As a not-for-profit fostering agency, any surplus income is reinvested to provide more training and support activities for foster carers and the children they look after. 

The agency’s network of foster families provide safe, nurturing home environments for vulnerable children across the southwest, central Midlands, Eastern counties, Yorkshire and the northwest of England. 

To find out more about the charity or Lee and Stewart, please contact Allie Deeley on allie@conteur.co.uk