Chereece and Grant's Story

• Fostering Stories

As a 29 and 26-year-old couple, Chereece and Grant initially thought they were too young to foster, until they attended one of our information events.

“I had always considered fostering as something that I wanted to do, and then my mum ended up being a friends and family foster carer for my nieces”

“We were a bit concerned about the barriers because we are younger than average foster carers and we don't have any children of our own so we don't have that experience"

“We ended up getting our house with a spare room, and we were like yeah let’s do it. I received an email about an upcoming information evening, so we went”

What was the process like?

"The process was fine, it seemed like it was going to be overwhelming but it wasn’t really. At the end of it we'd had our meetings and we were like, is that it? Are we done?"

“For ours we just sat and had a little chat it wasn’t like we were getting interrogated or anything. We just sat and had a conversation and felt really comfortable”

“Some of the questions, when asked them, seem a bit invasive but then looking back you think I can see why they needed that information.”

“We did skills to foster online and we really enjoyed it, Anne has so much energy she's just so funny so it doesn’t feel like you are doing training”

“It feels like you are having a laugh, but you are learning at the same time it’s great”

What's it been like so far?

“We've been fostering for 4 months now.  You hear horror stories and expect disruption in your life. A lot of young people have been through a lot, they have trauma and issues that they are working through so you do expect it to be hard.”

“Our young person has been through a lot, but he’s at a place where we just kind of gel. We just get along, so it’s easy to settle.”

What has been most challenging?

“The main challenge is trying to understand our young persons point of view and why he approaches things in a certain way."

“We've worked with him to try and help him understand that what he’s been through may be why he is acting a certain way”

“He has good relationships with his family, he goes to see his mum and dad separately and them once a month. He also sees his siblings who are with separate foster carers.”

“This is something that we were worried about, but he is genuinely happy when he comes back.”

What has been most rewarding?

"We went to his school summer fair, we walked round he played the penalty shootout and ate sweets.  When we got home he said, that’s the first time a parent or anyone has ever come to school for me”.  I asked 'so are you happy that we came then?' And he said 'yes because usually people say they are too busy and they can’t come.' That makes me teary every time I think about it”