Meet Angela and Daniel

We initially started thinking about fostering about 10 years ago when our two eldest daughters were going off to university and college. My sister and brother-in-law then went on to become foster carers with Excel Fostering and they have been fostering for about 7 years now. We always think of their foster children as a part of the family.

I had been working around 60 hours a week, our youngest was pregnant with our grandson and I really wanted to be able to help out once the baby was born. After talking with my sister and brother-in-law and seeing the difference they were making, we decided that the time was now right for us, and we gave Excel Fostering a call.

The assessment process took around seven months and we found it to be straight forward. As it was during the pandemic, some things were a little different. For example, we took a camera around the house rather than having an actual home visit for the initial check. I think it probably would have taken less time if you took COVID-19 out of the equation and our checks also took a little longer than normal as we had previously moved around a lot with the Army. Because we’re such an open family in general, we didn’t find the process to be too invasive. Overall, it went quite smoothly, and we became fully approved foster carers in April 2021. It was then time to wait to be matched.

Our first placement was an emergency placement of siblings, aged two and three and we cared for them for eleven days. It was exciting to have our first placement and to know that we would be able to help. It was also incredibly nerve wracking having an emergency placement to start with, as it meant we didn’t know anything about them before they arrived. It was a big learning curve for us.

We now have two girls who have been with us for a couple of months. We (and they) feel like they have been with us for years. We are very lucky to have a huge support network around us and everyone has been so supportive of our decision to foster. The girls have fitted straight in with the whole family, all the nieces and nephews and my sister and brother-in-law’s foster children. We are used to raising girls and they remind us so much of bringing up our own daughters. They are such loving girls. They are polite, well-mannered and they don’t have any behavioural challenges or medical needs. We are fully prepared for the challenges that being a foster carer brings and we’re sure the future will hold some for us, but we really couldn’t have asked for anymore for the start of our fostering journey.

To someone thinking about fostering, I would say…

… if you are in a relationship, the first thing to do is to talk about fostering together, thinking about every aspect of your lives.  Your future holidays for example. Will you take the foster children with you, or have respite care for them? Do you agree with each other? Talk about your emotions, talk about finances, talk about your jobs. It’s so important that you are able to communicate with each other openly about all these things and more to become foster carers. Once you’ve talked, have a good look through Excel Fostering’s website and read everything you can about fostering. I would definitely recommend Excel Fostering as an agency as everyone is so supportive.

The absolute best thing about fostering is seeing their little faces. It was hard to hold back the tears when we saw the girls coming down the path crying. Being able to give them that reassurance, helping them to feel safe and then seeing their faces change to genuine smiles really is incredible. It’s difficult to put into words, but it feels good to know that you are making a difference. Being able to give them a loving and safe home makes us so happy. The girls know that they are part of our family now and always will be.