Thursday 24 March 2016
It is a common misconception that you cannot become a foster carer if you are over the age of 55. In fact, a large proportion of our carers across NFA are of this age and above and use their vast life experiences when it comes to caring for their foster children. In everyday life, more and more people are delaying starting a family to establish careers and to ensure a financially stable home environment within which to bring up a child. With fostering we see the benefits of this too.
Many people think they may be too old now that their own children have grown and have moved on but these are exactly the types of people we are looking for. People who can use their own experiences of parenting to help a foster child. Some individuals have the feeling that they still have the love and care available to give to help a child and this is often what motivates them to inquire in their 50’s. However, they are often surprised when they hear they are not too old to foster. Much like the differences which come with our foster children, each carer can bring something quite unique and as long as they are fit and healthy and have the energy to look after a child as well as being able to meet their needs we are happy to discuss this further.
We do put a lower limit of 21 on our foster carers, but there is no upper limit. When people apply to foster, we look at everyone’s individual circumstances, including their health, lifestyle and support network. Life experience can be extremely valuable in fostering, and we encourage people of a variety of ages and backgrounds to apply.