Diagrama Fostering is calling for more families to take up fostering as Foster Care Fortnight 2017 begins across the UK.

According to The Fostering Network, the UK’s leading fostering charity which runs Foster Care Fortnight, over 7,000 more people with the right skills and experience are needed to offer loving, stable and secure homes to children and young people across the UK. Across the south east 830 more carers are needed, particularly to look after older children, siblings together and children with additional needs.

Diagrama Fostering, a not-for-profit charitable agency rated GOOD by Ofsted, offers FREE training for people interested in becoming a foster carer  to help transform the lives of vulnerable children in care. The charity’s fostering team is inviting anyone interested to attend an information drop-in event this Thursday (May 10) at Airport House in Purley Way, Croydon  from 6.30-8.30pm or next Tuesday (May 16) at the Ardington Hotel, Steyne Gardens in Worthing from 10am - 12 noon.

When Jennifer Graham and her partner Asa Colgate decided to look into becoming foster parents, they had no idea the experience would enrich their own lives as much as those of the children they would be looking after.

“It can be life changing, in a really positive way,” said Jennifer, 42, who together with Asa has looked after nine different foster children at their home in Worthing, over the past eight years. “It’s not without its difficult times, of course, but being a foster parent is an ongoing journey that I wouldn’t have missed for all the world. I’m just so glad we went ahead and did it.”

Jennifer and Asa’s fostering story can be read in full on our blog site.

Catherine Moore, Diagrama’s fostering manager said: “Prospective foster carers need a range of skills and qualities, including patience, the ability to listen, being a team player, a sense of humour and much more besides. They will receive training and 24-hour support from Diagrama, as well as a generous allowance to cover the cost of looking after the children in their care. If you have a spare room and think you could offer the love and care that a fostered child needs, please contact our fostering service on 0800 802 1910 or email fostering@diagrama.org for an information pack.

Kevin Williams, chief executive of The Fostering Network, said: ‘Foster families can transform fostered children’s lives, giving them the chance of having the childhood they deserve, a childhood that they otherwise may not have had. Foster carers are amazing people, performing an invaluable role that really serves the whole community.

‘A wider pool of foster carers enables fostering services to be able to match the needs of each child more closely with the skills that each foster carer brings, and to find the right home for each child, first time. That’s why we are urging people to get in touch today’.