Stockport boasts its proudest fostering moments during Foster Care Fortnight 2024

Foster Care Fortnight is The Fostering Network's annual campaign to raise awareness of the transformational power of foster care for children and young people who cannot live with their families and to celebrate and showcase the commitment, passion and dedication of foster carers and the fostering community.

Running from Monday 13 May - Sunday 26 May 2024, the theme this year is #FosteringMoments and over the two weeks we will be encouraging our foster carers and Stockport’s fostering community to share the moments that have mattered to them.

These moments are different for everyone in the fostering community, however they all have a significant impact on fostering families and the children and young people that they care for.

For foster carers, this might be the moment they were approved as a foster carer, or the moment a young person in their care hugged them for the first time. We want to show that every moment matters in fostering.

Foster care is at the heart of our local Stockport communities, enabling our local children and young people to stay with foster families, local to everything they are familiar with already.

In Stockport there are 252 fostering households caring for over 300 local Stockport children and young people but more foster families are needed every year.

The hope is that this fortnight will encourage more people to consider foster caring as there is a particular need for foster carers for younger children, older children, sibling groups, disabled children and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children separated from their families.

Cllr Mark Hunter, Leader of Stockport Council said, “Stockport Council is delighted to be supporting Foster Care Fortnight which is a fantastic opportunity to highlight and celebrate the work of our foster carers and their families in our communities.

"There is a huge shortage of foster carers in Stockport, so we hope this campaign highlights just how important foster carers are – they are a lifeline to our local children and young people in need of a home, providing them with support, stability and love.

"If you have ever considered fostering, now is the time to get in touch. Our fostering community is open to people from all walks of life and backgrounds - you just need to be over 21 and have a spare bedroom.

"Alongside the privileged opportunity and satisfaction to make a lasting difference to lives of children and young people, you will receive training, guidance and support and tax-free financial allowances to ensure you have everything you need to provide the very best care and are rewarded for being a foster carer.

"As a foster carer, you can support children and young people who have had a difficult start in life to reach their full potential. You can transform lives. We are really looking forward to welcoming new foster carers to our community.”

Local foster carers Lisa and Clive who foster older children share their proud fostering moments, “My favourite moment is when our young person got her GCSE results, her school attendance had been very low when she’d moved in with us at the beginning of her GCSE year and we successfully managed to get her to re-start regular school attendance, agree to extra Council funded tutoring support and work towards her exams. She ended up getting seven GCSEs with good grades and is now at college doing a BTEC/A Levels. A real life-changing turnaround, we are so proud of her.”
Clive, Foster Carer

“My proudest moment was taking the young person to her prom - knowing I had helped create the stability and the environment that meant she could have and enjoy that special teenage event and being a normal “teenager”.
Lisa, Foster Carer

During the fortnight the award-winning film “Any of Us” will be shown in local cinemas in Stockport and the fostering team and local foster carers will be hosting events and information drop in sessions:

• Wednesday 15 May – Fostering information session at Stockport Town Hall, starting at 6pm.
• Friday 17 May – information stand at John Lewis Cheadle between 11am and 1 pm.
• Saturday 18 May – Foster Walk at Vernon Park starting at 12 noon (by café)
• Sunday 19 May – fostering stall at Bramhall Duck Race and Family Fun
• Friday 24 May – information stand at Stepping Hill Hospital (by canteen) between 11am and 1 pm.
• Saturday 25 May – Worker Bee Market, Reddish

The council holds regular monthly information sessions on the second Wednesday of every month at Stockport Town Hall starting at 6pm. Information about the information sessions, the different types of fostering and what we offer to our foster carers can be found on our website www.stockport.gov.uk/fostering or by calling the recruitment team on 0161 474 3400.

To view our award-winning film visit our fostering webpages.

Now could be the time to get in touch and start your journey towards creating your own #FosteringMoments, we'd love to hear from you and help you on your way.