This Is Fostering

We’ve got a large table in our kitchen. It’s not fancy. No one ever asks me where I got it from so that they could get one. It’s pretty unassuming. You know the sort; with pen marks, paint and quite a few scrapes from who knows what. We don’t worry about it and the children are free to get it dirty in whatever way they would like!

It’s also the centre of our home. We eat most of our meals at this table. They aren’t fancy either. Just family meals where we can all chat and catch up about our day. As I look at it, it’s covered with everything we’ve been doing today. The weather hasn’t been that great so we’re home quite a bit. There’s a jigsaw, half completed when the child decided there was something else they wanted to do. A book, also half finished. I think someone didn’t put the game away that they were playing earlier. Somewhere along the line the Lego men were out. I think some of them are lined up on the floor. At some point I’ll gather it all up or move it aside so that we can eat!

When people think about fostering they often worry about the big things. How the children will fit into your home. How you’ll manage the paperwork and the visits etc. I think it’s difficult to visualise how it’ll work, but I look at my kitchen table. This is how it works. We’re just here being family together for as long as the children need us. We’re doing what everyone else does every day. Just the small stuff of life that is often forgotten but is so important.

This is fostering!