Zebon and I have been Foster Parents since 2006, Fostering children from all background’s, needs and ages. We enquired to Foster with By the Bridge over six years ago and have successfully Fostered a number of children with them ever since.
In 2008, we received our first ever unaccompanied minor Fostering placement who was a young child from Afghanistan named Bashir*. When we received the call informing us of a possible placement, we were warned that he had been physically aggressive towards his current Foster Parents and for that reason they had put in notice for him to placed elsewhere. Knowing this, we still accepted him into our home as we felt we shared many similarities with him and wanted to help.
When he came to us we all hit it off straight away. We believe it helped massively sharing the same mother tongue ‘Pushtu’ and remember him saying “I feel so lucky to be living with you, in my previous family I couldn’t understand what they were saying to me and I didn’t fast during Ramadan.”
We began to notice that he soon grew positive and felt like he belonged. We believe that his aggression in previous placements was mainly down to not be able to communicate and share his culture and religion and we can’t imagine how frustrated he must have felt. His Social Worker was so amazed by how quickly his behaviour had improved that they quickly placed another accompanied child with us.
Since then we have been Foster Parents to many children from Afghanistan. Almost all of whom have been long-term and have stayed with us until they were ready to live independently.
Sharing the same language, culture and religion has helped the children settle in massively, bringing them a sense of belonging whilst valuing and respecting their identity. We believe it has helped them to not lose sight of who they really are and it has taken away some of the guilt they sometimes feel when integrating into a new society and settling into a strange new home.
We chose to transfer and Foster with By the Bridge back in 2015 not only because they offer comprehensive, therapeutic Fostering approach but also provide excellent training and development opportunities, all of which is taught by professional, knowledgeable trainers and is of a high standard.
By the Bridge is the third agency we have Fostered with (having left the previous two of our own accord) and we have zero plans to leave them. We have always felt fully supported, welcomed and valued and believe them to be an excellent agency. The fantastic training and development ensures we can provide the best possible care for our Foster children and help them to live a rich life.
It’s extremely important for By the Bridge to have Foster Parents from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds and faiths to ensure they can provide the best possible Foster Parent matches for their children.
They are always looking to recruit more families like us, so if you feel you can provide a child with a safe, supportive and loving environment then please give By the Bridge a call and give a child a chance to thrive – we promise you won’t regret it!
* Names have been changed for safeguarding purposes.
Could you become a Foster Parent and change a young person's life? Get in Touch with By the Bridge today!
