Kirstin Hardie
Kirstin Hardie, 32 from Perth, has been a foster carer for 3 years, starting with short break care and now offering longer stays. She is single and works part-time as a teacher.
I think foster caring had always been at the back of my mind and when I saw an advert for it, I thought ‘let's give it a go and look into it’.
There are also different kinds of foster care from short breaks to permanent. I decided to start with short breaks, and as I’m a teacher I’m able to provide support during the school holidays as well as during term-time at weekends.
I’ve got 2 sets of sisters who come monthly, and I’ve also now been approved for interim foster care, which are placements of under 2 years, and I have 7-year-old twins living with me full-time.
I think a lot of people think you can’t foster when you’re single, but that’s not true. There’s also a misconception about what children in foster care are like, that they’ll come in and display challenging behaviours, and that's totally not what it's like at all. You can also decide which age groups you want to take.
You’re not just housing children, you’re extending their support network — my family’s been buying them Christmas and birthday presents, for example. It’s been really nice to see them become part of my life in that way.
Seeing them progress is really rewarding, things like when I'm going into school to drop them off, and their teachers say they're getting on so much better. You feel you’re doing the right thing. One of the girls I’ve looked after got a role in a theatre production, and it was amazing to think back to how shy she was when I first met her. You can totally see the change you're making.
I have seen some challenging behaviours, but what’s really helped has been having a network of other foster carers to turn to for advice. It’s definitely the support of the other carers that makes you continue doing it.
If you’re thinking about foster caring, you can do the Skills to Foster training course, and I think when you get to the end of that, you know whether you want to do it.
There’s a real need for foster carers, and teachers are in a great position to do it, not just because of the holidays but also because they have an understanding of what’s going on. There are always kids in need. Foster carers themselves also need breaks, so the more foster carers there are the better