People in Dorset are being encouraged to help children find a happy home through fostering. England faces a shortage of foster carers, with an estimated shortfall of some 9,000. Now independent Dorset-based agency Footprints is calling on kind-hearted families to consider the role. Fostering can yield a raft of benefits for the families – and children – involved.

Whether you have considered fostering before, or it is a new idea, becoming a foster carer can yield many benefits financially, but also with the intrinsic reward of seeing a young person grow and develop in your care.

Sometimes, birth families are unable to provide a safe home for their children and through no fault of their own, these young people will fall into the care system, where they receive some safety and security. Once becoming a carer, the rewards are plenty. Carers often feel a great sense of pride and reward seeing a young person develop, overcoming certain milestones. This could include achieving a high percentage of school attendance, which they may have always struggled to achieve, or seeing a child follow a routine of regular mealtimes and bedtimes, all things that may not have been possible in their previous living situations.

Carers can bring a lot of joy to a child’s life, giving them a whole new life experience. For some, this may be as simple as a trip to the beach to feel the sand between their toes and smell the blustering sea breeze for the very first time.
Footprints provides the highest level of care to young people by providing carers with the highest level of training and an excellent support package.

There is always someone to talk to at Footprints.
Find out more by contacting us on 01202 573408.