A new campaign has been launched to urge people in Lichfield and Burntwood to consider fostering.
Staffordshire County Council is laughing Got Time to Foster? in a bid to help find families for children.
A series of Facebook Live Streams with real foster carers are running throughout September to show that fostering can be flexible to fit around people’s lives.
Staffordshire foster carer Nicola Clay and husband Jonathan said they were keen to support the campaign:
“We’ve been fostering for around 16 months now. We decided to go into fostering as I wanted a change of career and our own children had grown up and gone off to university and we had the time and space to make a difference.
“Fostering has been the best thing and the hardest thing we have ever done but seeing the difference we made to the baby we cared for has made it so worthwhile and we would encourage anyone considering fostering to just go for it.”
Nicola Clay
An online information event will also take place on 1st October.
Cllr Mark Sutton, cabinet member for children and young people at Staffordshire County Council, said:
“September is often the time of year when people make changes in their lives, sometimes prompted by children going off to university or moving away. This often leaves people with more time on their hands and this is why we have launched our latest Got Time to Foster campaign.
“We have over 1,200 children in our care and we know that placing them with a foster family gives them the best chance of a happy, normal life.
“We are always looking for foster families to come forward and when you hear about the amazing difference that fostering can make to a young person’s life, you’ll see why it’s such a wonderful thing to do.
“All sorts of people can and do foster with us and you’re never on your own. There’s always support at hand and lots of training available.
“This year, we are especially looking for foster carers for teenagers, sibling groups and children with additional needs too, so please get in touch with the service if you think you can make a difference.”
Cllr Mark Sutton, Staffordshire County Council
Further information about fostering and dates of upcoming events are available at fosterforstaffordshire.co.uk.
