I wonder what you’ve missed most in ‘Lockdown’?
Whatever your situation, I’m sure your life has been limited over the last 2 years. Perhaps you’ve missed loved ones, friends, being outside, being at work, or are just frustrated at being denied the chance to do what you want, when you want.
However difficult your situation, I trust you have some hope that life will improve.
My family became Foster Carers for our Local Council in 2010.
One of the first children we cared for was four years old.
On his second day with us he dutifully held my hand as we headed off to the local park.
He had very limited language.
As we walked across the grass, he stopped, pointed, and muttered something barely audible.
I looked to see what had caught his attention.
It soon became clear he was pointing at a tree.
That little boy spent the next 20 minutes stroking the bark, marvelling at the leaves, and staring up at its enormous height.
It was fairly evident that he’d never seen a tree before, and certainly never touched one.
We spent many wonderful hours exploring that park.
We worked out, purely by observation, that he’d never experienced the wonder of television, knew nothing of swimming pools, cinemas, shops, ball pools, or bath time.
Over the 15 months he lived with us, we introduced him to all that normal stuff, the stuff we may all have missed over the last 2 years.
We also showed him a world where there was always enough to eat, you’d always be warm, and where people would not hurt you.
I guess that child had lived in a permanent “lockdown”, which ended when he came to live with us.
I know my family made a difference to his life.
My wife and I, and our teenage birth children have fostered seven children in total. One lad came for just four hours, and one lad came for a day and is still with us seven years later. He has become one of the family.
Is it difficult? Yes. But the rewards outweigh the problems, and its value is unquantifiable. I’ve never run a marathon, climbed Kilimanjaro or run a FTSE company, However, I have convinced a kid that 3am is a bad time to play tennis, and that not all grown ups are dangerous.
If you want to find out more about fostering or adoption, please contact me or your Local Council
Fostering and adopting with phil 
Fostering is exactly that. One of my memories is of a 9 year old girl, unwrapping her ice lolly like it was a chocolate bar. She made sure the bottom was still in the paper so her fingers didn’t get messy. Then it dawned on me she had never had one before and didn’t know there was a stick. Sometimes it’s the everyday things that get you.
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Thanks Pauline. That’s a great lite insight into what ‘our kids have missed out on’. Happy fostering.
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After 3 years fostering a young girl who had reached the age of 15 at the time , with many sleepless nights of trashing her room, self harming, spitting, snarling, on a daily basis, a brief truce with her behaviour seem to materialise. It seemed we were making progress……. 3 months in to the first lockdown a dark and menacing aura seemed to take hold of her….. she picked up a kitchen knife and proceeded to attack me…… lockdown did this…!!!!
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That sounds so difficult. I hope you are all safe. Have you had support from Social Workers etc?
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