Fostering changes lives, I have experienced this firsthand in my foster daughter’s life. She was placed with me almost 5 years ago. And over the years I have seen a radical transformation in her life. Back then, she was a frightened, insecure, nervous little girl who didn’t trust anyone, lacked self- belief, and who had zero hopes or dreams for her future.

The first two years were a time of slowly building trust and learning how to make good choices, which was challenging in many ways, but at the same time also fruitful and rewarding. It took bucket loads of patience and perseverance and constant encouragement as she slowly started to discover that she could trust again and that she could achieve things she never thought she could, over time, with patience, love, kindness, firm boundaries, lots of encouragement and consistently modelling positive behaviours, I started to see wonderful changes in her.

Today, almost five years on, she is flourishing, she is a brave, bold, courageous, kind, and thoughtful young person. She loves being around people, she cares about others, she is achieving in different areas of life, doing well at school and she is even volunteering so that she can give back to her community and help others she has big beautiful dreams for her future and often talks about her plans for the future and what she envisions for herself.

Fostering changes lives when a child is placed in a nurturing environment and given room to thrive. The sky is the limit for the potential and beauty inside of them.