Val tells us how she found out about fostering and why she fosters sibling groups
Val shares her fostering journey as a single mum who has fostered sibling groups for over 5 years.
Val has fostered with Bucks for 5 years and lives in Aylesbury Vale. She is a single parent with grown-up children and is an approved foster carer for two children aged 0 to 6 years. She has fostered a number of sibling groups.
Val's story
"I was looking through the local paper and saw an advert about fostering. I thought that it was something I would like to do, but I still gave it a lot of thought before I enquired about it, but I’m glad I did.
"I’ve had a mixture of children; one little boy was with me for three years. Although he was very difficult, with lots of support he became a very happy and lovely child who I still see occasionally which is very rewarding. I also had two siblings for quite a while and when mum had another, the social worker wanted to keep them together, so I offered to have all three of them. I thought it was important for them to stay together and they wanted to be together so they could bond as a family. I would not have liked to see them separated.
"I’ve had others as well who would not cope if they were parted, so I will always keep them together. After all, happy children make fostering a lot easier for them and for me. I get upset when they leave, but then if I didn’t, perhaps I should not look after them, because all they require is for me to care about them the same as I did for my own children."