Debbie Douglas and her birth daughter Lydia are both ambassadors for fostering. They both talked openly yesterday (10th May) to Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour presenter Jane Garvey about how fostering had made a positive impact on their lives. Debbie has been a foster carer for over two decades and Lydia is famed for being on the television programme The Only Way is Essex.
Lydia was keen to share her memories of growing up with lots of different children and loved the fact that she had ‘real’ babies to play with and didn’t need dollies. Debbie told listeners that she got into fostering by a chance meeting with a foster carer and has never looked back since.
Jackie Edwards is a professional advisor for FosterTalk, (an organisation that supports foster carers throughout the UK) was also interviewed by Jane Garvey. Jackie explained that there is a shortage of foster carers for sibling groups, teenagers, black and minority groups and those with disabilities and asylum seeking children. Jackie stressed that fostering is a career and that people from all walks of life can foster including single men, same sex couples, older people and that race and religion is not a barrier.
You can listen to the Woman’s Hour Podcast until June 4, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p052jk2t
Debbie and Lydia are also supporting Fosterline’s foster carer recruitment campaign called #OneMoreHome. To find out more about fostering and to download an information pack, visit www.onemorehome.co.uk or call Fosterline on 0800 040 7675 to speak to an advisor in confidence for advice.