Returning to fostering - Tania and Edward's story

Tania and Edward are therapeutic foster carers with Calon Cymru. They originally started fostering in 2013, but when the Coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, their family and career circumstances changed, and the couple decided to finish fostering. Two years later, Tania and Edward missed making a difference and got back in touch with Calon Cymru.

It was Tania’s idea to foster. Their children had grown up and moved out of the family home and although they still saw them daily, the house felt empty. Drawing on their life experiences as well as the skills they had gained from parenting their children and in their careers, they decided to pursue a career in fostering.

Tania and Edward recalled making their enquiry to foster. After submitting their details, they received a call from one of our friendly members of staff who asked them a couple of questions and from there, our Recruitment Manager Barrie visited them at home. After Barrie’s visit, Tania and Edward were allocated a Social Worker and began their assessment to become foster carers.

The assessment was in detail, and it went back to childhood, but it was good, it was really deep and intense.

Throughout their first 7 years of fostering, Tania and Edward provided several placements, from respite and short-term fostering to long-term and fostering siblings. Over their career, they’ve fostered children who have gone back to their families, as well as children who went on to be adopted. They are even able to keep in touch with some of the children and young adults who have passed through their front door.

When Tania and Edward agreed to return to fostering, their decision to come back to Calon Cymru was an easy one.

We like Calon, we like the staff and we like how it runs. It was our first thought to come back. The staff are always happy, and if you need something, it’s there. The agency has always been really good with support. If we had any problems or weren’t happy with something, we knew we could call and get it sorted.

Tania and Edward now specialise in therapeutically-led placements. Children in these types of placements have been through trauma and abuse and often display challenging behaviours. Therapeutic foster carers are allocated a psychologist from Studio III to work alongside and have access to additional training, meetings, and support, ensuring they are never alone in providing the highest quality of care to children who have experienced trauma. Tania and Edward currently foster a sibling group of two, who have been with them for just over a year. Tania spoke of the day they moved in:

The children we have with us now came to us with their toys in cardboard boxes. We were emptying their toys out of them when one of the children said not to throw the boxes out, as she would need them for when she moved again. I told her they would be staying with us and not moving anytime soon, so she emptied the boxes, helped me pack them down, and put them in the recycling with me. We had quite a nice smile off her then, she knew she was staying.

Foster carers have the opportunity to bring stability to the lives of many local children. As a member of the Calon Cymru Fostering family, you can expect to receive comprehensive training and support from your locally based team. Whether you’ve fostered before and are thinking about returning like Tania and Edward, or if you’ve never fostered and would like to find out more, enquire here.

Make contact and think about the difference you could make, the fact is there's a load of children out there in need of foster carers, so do it.