"Hi, my name is Glenda and I have fostered for Calderdale Council for 25 years. My initial interest in fostering was in all honesty sparked by my son wanting a child in residential care to sleep over for his 12th birthday party. Back in the day we were "police checked" before any sleepovers were allowed along with a meeting with the child’s social worker. In the discussion we somehow agreed to do weekend support care. Long story short my one weekend a month support care under "friends and family" became alternate weekends and summer holidays then when their education placement broke down, they stayed with us permanently and we became fully fledged foster carers.
My son and daughter grew up with me fostering and my daughter is a great source of support for me especially when I became a single Carer ten years ago.
Our reason for choosing to foster for Calderdale - well we started with them due to the child being placed with us on support care. We have always felt we received the support, training, and guidance we needed, so never considered moving to another agency.
We concentrated on teenage fostering for many years - short term often turning to long term. Twenty years ago, we made the decision to take a brother and sister aged 9 and 8 years. The 9 year old girl old was a feisty tom boy who was stubborn and fiercely defensive. Life wasn’t always easy with her, but we grew to understand her and her us. She stayed with us long term and worked so hard to achieve her goals. She didn’t find school easy but left with her GCSES. She Is now a prison officer and has been promoted to a dog handler. Living up the road, she is very much still part of our family, and I am immensely proud of her achievements.
Another young lady who I cared for over five years lives close by with her partner and three beautiful children. She is a wonderful mum which again fills me with pride. Fostering can truly break the generational cycle of chaotic living and improve life chances for our children and in turn their children.
Fostering hasn’t always been easy, and I’ve faced many challenges, but they’ve been overcome with support from the team around me - it’s all been worthwhile and I feel truly blessed to have been a foster carer for so many years and helped in some small way to change some children's lives. "
