How I got to think about fostering as a career

Out of work and having to go to the job centre every two weeks to register and show how I had progressed in looking for work all catalogued and date recorded and phone calls, I soon realised this was a job in itself.
I had interviews every week and was doing well, but found it very difficult when offered jobs then told the same day the position was taken away. This happened three times to me and many others! One of the jobs was actually in the jobcentre. It went on like this over five months.

I then went to one awful interview, I was just so nervous I couldn’t function at all, it was just dreadful. I came out of the interview and just prayed, "Oh God I do not even want the job".
I just could not go behind a computer for a monthly pay cheque, eight hours per day, it just made me feel so empty. There had to be something more in life.

As I got onto the bus to go home I looked up and there was an advertisement, "Fostering we need you". I thought "Why not?", surely this had to be more worthwhile.

My first fostering enquiry's experience

The very next day, I started the process to a career in fostering by phoning an agency and asking about the job role. I said that I was interested in fostering and if they could explain to me what the job entailed.
Well I was stopped in my tracks and asked first of all how many bedrooms I had free and who lived in my house. I stopped for a moment and then answered three bedrooms.

Immediately was told: "Great, can you take three children and are they all good sized bedrooms?"
I just froze and said, "Excuse me, but you have just made me think I've phoned the kennels." The response was quick to pull back. They said: "Well, we cannot continue this conversation unless you have available bedrooms."

Two weeks later the same agency sent a nice women to talk to me at my home without my knowledge. This time it was about housing under-16 year old young men from Africa who came unaccompanied to Britain from war-torn areas. I was told they needed a room and someone to cook for them.

I thought after spending twenty years in the Middle East, I was not going to be doing that on my own, in a house with men I did not know.

My fostering experience with TACT Maethu/Fostering

Well, I did not contact anyone for a while until I came across a letter for an agency called TACT.
This agency sent a young lady to interview me in my home. I think it took her three hours just to get me off the ceiling explaining how I had been affected by the other experience.
Anyhow, "kid gloves" still on, I was told if I was interested that someone else would come and see me.
 
Then I met my support worker, Lynda Shier who, for the next six months, did a form F. The Form F is the time when they [Independent Fostering Agencies (IFA)] go into your life story and look into your suitability for the job as a foster carer.

This was done with great care and thought, and a lot of patience on Lynda’s part as I talked non-stop. How she never gave up, I do not know!

I thought there might be some concerns about my fostering. I am a practicing Christian and try to live my life according to how the Bible says I should. I believe Christianity has been a positive force for good but I was told by some that I would not make it or I would not have a placement because of my belief. I didn’t need to worry though. Lynda and TACT are stoic supporters of all faiths and cultures, and my beliefs have not been an issue.

My fostering placement with TACT in Wales

Well, since last September 2010, I have had a placement and the match could not have been better, as we say, it's "a match made in heaven".
 
I have had my ups and downs, but I would not be where I am today without becoming a foster carer and the placement I have nor without the support I have been given through TACT as an agency and the care shown to me.

Why you should become a foster carer for TACT

It's been a long journey, but this work is rewarding. It is tough, but it has a value you cannot put money on and a satisfaction few jobs can give.
We only live once. If you have a life like mine; looking for a good exchange rate outside of a monetary one, then you will find your rewards in a career as a Foster Carer with TACT well worth the while and investment of your time and skills.