Durham County Council says that its foster carers will “make ordinary moments extraordinary this Christmas as they provide a loving home for hundreds of children in County Durham.”
Many foster carers look forward to giving the children and youngsters they are looking after a Christmas experience that they may have never had before.
Carers Graham and Melanie Petre recently spoke of the memorable Christmases they have enjoyed with their foster children.
Melanie said, “You get up on Christmas morning and you see their little faces and some of them don’t know what to do because they have never ever had Christmas and never had Christmas presents.”
“It’s things like that which stick in your mind.”
660 children will spend this Christmas in the care of Durham County Council.
The council commented, “Across County Durham the number of foster placements continues to grow, but more prospective parents are needed to open their hearts and their homes to an increasing number of children in care.”
“The more foster families that the council has, the more children will be able to remain in their local communities.”
As well as its mainstream fostering programme, the council is developing its Foster Xtra scheme, which aims to meet the needs of young people with especially complex requirements.
Durham County Council does stress, however, that for most types of fostering no special qualifications are demanded. The most important characteristics of foster carers are things like being patient and having a good sense of humour.
Durham County Council recently appealed for more foster parents. Anybody considering fostering a child can find out more information by going to www.durham.gov.uk/fostering or telephoning 03000 269 400. People interested in adopting children can go to www.durham.gov.uk/adoption.
Durham County Council recently ran a competition in which the children in its care designed Christmas cards. The winning entry is being sent out as the official Christmas card for the council’s Children and Young People’s Services Department.