Posted on Friday 5th January 2024
Foster Carers Juli and James Wilson
For James Wilson and wife Juli, it’s a new year but it’s also a new start as foster carers with Staffordshire County Council.
James, who has just started as an emergency foster carer, is backing the council’s latest fostering campaign. He’s hoping to encourage more people looking for a change of career to consider becoming a foster carer.
James, from Stafford, found out about emergency fostering whilst taking part in the Council’s Open-Door programme that helps people find a job or change career by providing work experience placements.
As an emergency carer, James will be looking after children who come into care in an emergency, anytime during the night or over the weekend. Talking about his new role he said:
“My wife and I have talked about fostering on and off over the years; to give something back after our own children have flown the nest.
“We’ll be there day or night if a child needs emergency support. To provide them with a happy landing spot and a bit of brightness, for a short spell in a time which is incredibly stressful for them. To give them that safety and comfort.”
Some of the most commonly held myths around fostering that the team are hoping to bust are that you need lots of experience and skills, you can’t work and foster, you can’t have any pets and you need a big house. None of which are true!
Mark Sutton, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People at Staffordshire County Council said:
“It’s great to have James onboard with our new campaign, which will see us busting those popular myths to encourage more families to come forward.
“We know that fostering gives most children the best chance of a happy life, so it’s vital we have local foster carers to give them that opportunity.
“Our foster carers regularly tell us that fostering is an amazing thing to do but we know there are still lots of myths out there putting people off. For example, people think you need to be married, own your own home and you can’t own a pet, all of which are false.
“We’ll be busting myths throughout January on social media, and you can help us to spread the word by liking and sharing our posts. And, if you’ve already thought about fostering before, then coming along to one of our informal information events is a great way of taking that first step.”
As part of the campaign, a series of coffee mornings and information events with current foster carers will also be taking place throughout January. Further details are available on the Foster For Staffordshire webpage.