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We were emergency foster carers for about 5 years. I thought it would mean caring for kids whose parents were ill or whatever, mostly it was teenagers whose relationships with their own parents had, for various reasons, fallen apart and they were with us while bridges were repaired. My own kids were teenagers too at the time and much of the time it was just similar to having one of their mates round. I suppose we were lucky in that we just seemed to get kids who were desperate for a bit of stability and who responded well. One boy came back to see me about a year ago, told me he was now in college (he'd been a persistent truant) and that the 4 months he'd spent with us had turned his life around, so that was lovely.
I don't want to make it sound like a bed of roses, it certainly wasn't, but I have to respect these kids' privacy and if I say too much it's possible someone might know who I'm talking about. Needless to say there were times when I had to keep my purse with me at all times, times when the police were on my doorstep and, because these were teenagers and not restricted, they'd nip home, tell mum and dad their new address and I'd have the parents on the doorstep too - usually crying though, rather than being threatening. We stopped when our youngest son was in his final year of A levels as the last boy we'd had had gone home and we didn't want to disrupt our son's exams with a new child. We never did it again, but sometimes I do consider it... though I think we're a bit long in the tooth for it now, I'm not sure I have the stamina anymore.
I don't want to make it sound like a bed of roses, it certainly wasn't, but I have to respect these kids' privacy and if I say too much it's possible someone might know who I'm talking about. Needless to say there were times when I had to keep my purse with me at all times, times when the police were on my doorstep and, because these were teenagers and not restricted, they'd nip home, tell mum and dad their new address and I'd have the parents on the doorstep too - usually crying though, rather than being threatening. We stopped when our youngest son was in his final year of A levels as the last boy we'd had had gone home and we didn't want to disrupt our son's exams with a new child. We never did it again, but sometimes I do consider it... though I think we're a bit long in the tooth for it now, I'm not sure I have the stamina anymore.
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