Mick and Pauline

“Age is not a barrier for fostering children.” Essex couple in their 60s urges residents to become foster carers no matter their age.

Pauline and I were childhood sweethearts and married when we were 17. We have now been together for 47 years and have two daughters of our own, with three grandchildren whom we adore. We’ve always loved having young people around the house and wanted to help those who needed it, so when they flew the nest fostering was discussed as an option.

Pauline initially started helping an orphanage in Romania where young people would stay with us short term for the holidays. We then fostered a girl from Romania and loved having her around long term. That sewed the seed for becoming full time foster carers and we were motivated to sign up after seeing how many young people in the UK needed our help just as much. We haven’t looked back since.

The day we were cleared to become foster carers was very exciting and then meeting our first young person was just as amazing. Because our children had grown up and flown the nest, we were confident that we could dedicate as much time as needed to our foster children.

We’ve now been fostering for 10 years and fostered 2 children long term and several children for respite in that time.

My only regret about fostering? We started fostering in our 50s and I wish we had started fostering sooner!

You can be any age from 21 upwards to become a foster carer. Being in your 50s, or older, doesn’t make any difference. Anyone can become a foster carer; all you need is love in your heart and a commitment to improving children’s lives. It also doesn’t matter what gender you are. I’m the main foster carer and it works perfectly!

When our foster children first come to us, they have been through a lot in their young lives. All they really want is for us to be an advocate for them and to stand in their corner, to show them that they are cared for and looked after.

Our aim is to make every foster child part of the family as soon as they come to us. All our foster children have grown up around our grandchildren and other foster children, so they have an extended family that they can keep in touch with forever.

We like to foster children who are just going into secondary school because we like to help them adjust from being in primary school and seeing them develop from children into to young adults is so rewarding.

Our current foster daughter has been with us for four years. Early on, we noticed that she was interested in sport and was extremely fast. She would even outrun abled bodied children at school, so we helped her find out more about becoming a professional athlete. She has just won a gold medal in the Manchester under 20s competition, and we are so proud.

She’s successful because of her own skill and determination – we just pointed her in the right direction and supported her with the practicalities. But, without that the experience could have been overwhelming for such a young person. As she grows up, she is becoming more independent and with just a little guidance from us she is able follow her dream.

Whilst foster carers help children in need, emotionally and mentally, so that they can become whatever they want to be, it also enriches your own life at the same time.

The support network we have around us is brilliant; we of course have our daughters, and our supervising social worker, but there are many fostering groups around us that we can speak to if we need advice or help with something. When you become a foster carer, you are not alone but have a lovely fostering community around you.

When your children have grown up and left home you have the time and life experiences to make a great foster carer. Of course, it comes with its challenges, but to us fostering is like having grandchildren that live with you.

If you’re thinking about fostering just do it. Encompass it, you’d be surprised how much you like it and how much you get out of it.