Lee & Karen's Story - Long Term Fostering
Date published
26 May 2023
Lee and Karen's decision to embark on a fostering journey was sparked by an advert they saw in a newspaper. With a desire to make a difference, they chose Blue Sky Fostering, encouraged by the positive and engaging chat with the team. They fostered for over 9 years, making an incredible, positive impact on one lad in particular.
Learn more about Lee & Karen's fostering journey in the video below.
“Fostering brought a lot more to me, I actually got a best friend out of it” – Lee, Foster Carer
Category
Fostering stories
Topics
- Advice
- Foster Carer
- Support
- Long-term fostering
Date published
26 May 2023
Building a supportive network
Karen: “Throughout fostering, we learned so much from the young person, it was like a two-way thing, but what we weren’t sure about, we knew that we could reach out to Blue Sky and see if we are on track. There’s always somebody on the phone, we felt like we had a really good support network. “
The Rewards of Fostering
Lee: “The most rewarding part of fostering is still being in contact with our lad. And we call him our lad now because he calls us mum and dad. And even though he moved to up Scotland about 5 years ago, we’re continually still in contact, messaging or Facetime and visits.”
Karen: “That moment where, especially if you’re long-term fostering, that moment of change, where the young person goes from ‘I don’t know if I belong’ to ‘I know I belong’ and that is a game changer for all parties."
Unforgettable Moments
Among all of the amazing memories, Lee recalls the first night when their foster child sought comfort and found support in a shared connection over a ringtone: spider pig.
Lee: “The very first night that our lad come to us, he was scared, we were scared. He was very clingy to Karen because he just wanted a mother connection. My phone went off and the ring tone of spider pig just rang out, he paused for a second and just looked at me, and suddenly that connection of spider pig with me was amazing. From that point, every week, every day, we’d watch an episode of the Simpsons together, just because of that connection and it’s been there ever since”.
Surpassing expectations
After the shift into long-term care, Karen and Lee recognised the power of stability, they embraced the opportunity to provide lasting support to their foster child. The relationship has blossomed, Karen adding “What he’s given us is as much as what we’ve given him”.
