introduction & background
Hi there! We’re Alex and Carla. We met while working at a nursery in Hampshire/Berkshire. At that time, Carla was leading the baby unit, a role she took on after she left school, driven by her lifelong passion for children. Meanwhile, Alex was exploring various roles, from retail manager to travel agent, before making a complete career switch to working in day nurseries.
When we moved to Wrexham to be closer to Alex’s family, Alex continued his journey working in day nurseries, all while studying through the Open University and eventually completing his teacher training at Glyndwr University. Carla also kept her career in childcare going, stepping into supervisory positions at Coleg Cambria at both the Deeside and Yale college sites.
Now, Carla works as a childcare officer for Wrexham County Borough Council. In this role, she helps childcare settings across the county by ensuring they have everything they need to provide excellent care. The flexibility of her job has been incredibly beneficial for us as foster carers, as it allows her to attend meetings with various professionals to support the girls in our care.
Alex, too, enjoys flexibility in his role as a supply teacher, where he works with primary-aged children from nursery through to year 6. This flexibility lets him adjust his schedule to be present for important events like sports days, graduations, and other celebrations. We feel incredibly lucky that our roles not only let us interact with so many children but also help us better understand and support the challenges they face in their learning and development.
motivation & enquiring
Fostering had been on our minds for a while, but the timing never seemed right due to Alex’s studies and our move to a new area. We had some understanding of fostering from family and friends who had experience with the care system, and we always felt it would be a rewarding opportunity to offer a safe and secure environment for vulnerable children. We frequently heard radio adverts highlighting the need for foster carers in Wrexham, keeping the idea of fostering in the back of our minds.
We don’t have children of our own, but with our extensive experience of working with children of various ages, we felt that, as a younger couple, we could offer a fresh perspective. Initially, the stereotype of older, retired individuals, whose children have grown up and left home, made us hesitant. We worried that fostering might require us to give up our careers. However, we later discovered that this perception was not accurate.
A turning point for us came during an afternoon in New Brighton. We both love the beach and playing in the arcades, and that day we realised that fostering wouldn’t stop us from enjoying these activities. Instead, we could share and enjoy these experiences with children in our care. We envisioned continuing our outings, like walks and trips to the zoo, with foster children joining in. This moment made us see that fostering could be a rewarding experience for us as much as it would be for the children we would care for.
application process
Initially, we looked at enquiring with an independent fostering agency but when Carla attended a networking event at work, she got chatting with members of the fostering team at Wrexham Council. We then decided to enquire with them first to see what they could offer and soon realised that it was beneficial for us to to foster with our local authority, Foster Wales Wrexham.
Soon after, we met up with Alex from the Foster Wales Wrexham team who talked us through everything, including the Skills to Foster training that we would need to attend. It all seemed straightforward and having both completed numerous childcare training courses, we weren’t put off by the expectations of the training.
It was also explained to us that we would need to be assessed by Hazel, our assessing social worker. As part of this stage, Hazel would need to come and see us once a week for an hour or two at a time to talk through various aspects of our lives, delving into how we were both parented and what our parenting style would look like.
At first, this felt scary as it would mean having to talk in great detail about aspects of our lives that we may not remember very well, or that we may have wanted to forget. This was especially the case for Carla, who as a type one diabetic, has faced many challenges as a young child. The more sessions we had though, the more comfortable we became and all along the process, it felt as if everything we were doing was leading onto the next chapter of our lives.
training & preparation
As part of our training, we completed the Skills to Foster sessions where we explored the impact that being in foster care has on children and young people. This training was beneficial as we could understand more about the challenges that children have and how we could support them in handling these challenges.
We also completed a range of other training courses online and in person, as part of continued professional development which included first aid, attachment theory, food safety and hygiene and confidentiality. The online training hub is a fantastic way to learn new skills and has a variety of other specific courses which can support you in understanding and supporting the children in your care. The training courses were very useful, especially for our careers as childcare officer and supply teacher, where we could transfer our skills across professions.
Feeling inspired by our story? The journey to becoming a foster carer is incredibly rewarding, and there’s support every step of the way. Get in touch with the Foster Wales Wrexham team to learn more about how you can start your fostering journey. Join us for Part Two, where we’ll talk about the invaluable support and training that helped us prepare for our first foster child.
