Sarah Bennett
Sarah Bennett, 41, from Aberdeenshire became a foster parent to a toddler 14 years ago, on a placement that was later made permanent, and who became “absolutely, completely embedded in our family”. He has grown up with her 2 daughters “as a sibling group of 3, and they're extremely close”.
My foster son, who has additional needs, came into our family 6 weeks before his third birthday. He is now a teenager and is an absolute delight. He is just great company, he's funny, he's fab to be around.
He’s doing incredibly well across the board, including at school - he passed 7 National 5s last year, and he’s doing 4 Highers this year.
People often speak about how foster caring changes children's lives, but he's changed our lives completely. We're the people who get to spend every day with him, get to be there and celebrate successes and be that support network for him, so we're the lucky ones in this situation.
The process of him settling in at the start naturally took time, but we can't imagine our lives without him in any way. It’s even led to me becoming a family support worker in adoption.
In terms of support, it’s important to have people to chat to when things are tricky, but also to celebrate the successes with you.
There have been so many memorable moments, for example he received an award for his exam results, and I probably embarrassed him terribly, I was sobbing. He also recently came back from a school skiing trip, which he just loved — getting to give him those opportunities and experiences is so rewarding for us.
But moments that might seem smaller are also significant, such as when you're just staying in on a Saturday night with a takeaway, watching the TV, and he's really relaxed and laughing.
I now see there is a big need for more foster carers to take on permanent placements for children and provide a stable long-term foster home.
Every child needs a safe, loving environment, and somebody in their corner to fight for them, advocate for them, and think they're the best thing since sliced bread.
If you can do that by becoming a foster carer, the rewards can be huge. It’s an amazing experience, there are lows as well as highs, of course, but my family and I have learned so much about ourselves as people. It's been so positive for us.