A day in the life of a foster carers Helen and Chris

From caring for the young people in placement to attending meetings and doing the day to day tasks, there’s never a dull moment in our life as foster carers. My wife and I have been fostering with FCA Scotland for over five years now and it’s safe to say that no two days are ever the same.

It’s important to get into a routine for the young people in placement with you and to give them some sort of stability. We have two teenage boys in placement with us at the moment but their development age is a lot younger than that.

At the beginning of the week, my wife and I sit down to plan the week ahead. One young person works full time, so we need to work out our days around his shifts at work, and every week varies. On an average day, we would usually be up quite early, making breakfast for the boys. Next is the train station for one of the boys and college drop off for the other. If I don’t have any meetings that day, after dropping the boys off I would usually take the dog for a long walk, then head back and get the housework done. Depending on what’s going on I’m kept busy. On this particular day, I headed back to college in the afternoon as they were having a charity fair, which of course I wanted to support, for both the young person as well as the college. Then back home to prepare dinner for everyone.

This evening I’d agreed to attend an FCA Scotland information evening for potential foster carers. These are really informative and anyone considering fostering does like to hear about actual experiences of FCA Scotland carers, it’s something I really enjoy being part of. If I wasn’t doing this I usually take an exercise class, or perhaps one of the boys has family contact with his siblings so I’m involved in supporting him with that.

We usually have quite structured weeks in order to keep the boys in a routine. Part of my routine is taking one of the boys to the cinema on a Wednesday, this is a great bonding time for the two of us as it really helps with his development. We like to take the boys out as much as possible and spend time together as a family, whether it’s going to the midnight screening of Star Wars or our Friday night takeaway from the chip shop, it’s all part of our family life!

If I was offering advice to anyone interested in becoming a foster carer I’d say, learn to expect the unexpected, take each day as it comes, teach and help pass on life skills, give it your all and most importantly enjoy it, the rewards are definitely worth it!