Nikki and Gary
Nikki and Gary, both in their fifties, are from Gloucester and have been fostering brothers & sisters for GCC since 2009.
"We have fostered for some years now and have become passionate about making room in our home to keep siblings together.
Most of us can only imagine what it is like for a child to be unable to live with their parents and to be taken from everything that is familiar to them. Imagine also being told that there is nowhere that can take you and your brothers and sisters and that you are going to be split up.
Caring for siblings can be a challenge, especially when there’s a range of ages, interests, tastes and ideals. They fight just the same as any other siblings! They also love each other just like any other siblings.
It can be a challenge when our relatively quiet house is filled with children who are finding it hard to adjust. Even so, the joy of seeing them thrive together and the opportunity for them to grow up together and share the most important memories far outweighs any of the difficulties. Birthdays, Christmas, sports events, school, the everyday humour that exists between them – they should never been denied sharing these things.
Once separated, it is always difficult for siblings to keep in touch, often due to geography, repeated moves and different lifestyles. If we have only one sibling from a group, we make as much effort as possible to keep communications open. We arrange visits, send pictures or letters and make phone calls to the rest of the family.
We feel it would be tragic for them to miss all the memories that are a given for most children. It may even seem like too much of an effort to the children at the time but we know, because they come back and tell us, that they value how much effort we make to keep them in touch with each other.
If you have the space, we would strongly encourage you to foster siblings."