Foster Care Associates Sheffield in Sheffield, North England

Lorraine Andrews

"Myself and my husband first joined FCA back in December 2022 after thinking for many years about going into fostering. Our daughter has now gone to University so we took the leap and went with FCA following a recommendation from a friend who joined them a couple of years ago and spoke highly of the agency. We went through the application process which was very intense, far more intense than we ever expected in all honesty but on reflection, understandable given the responsibilities we were hoping to take on. Karen our assessor still checks in on us now to see how we are doing. We went to Panel in May 2023 and got approved by Mel soon after. Within a few days we were approached by FCA to see if we would take 2 sisters on for a short respite stay and whilst we were nervous we wanted to jump straight in. They were lovely girls and we really enjoyed having them stay. We soon had a few more respite placements, again all with some amazing children and were then asked if we would consider taking 3 Roma Gypsy siblings on a long term basis. Our initial thoughts were could we manage 3 children but we agreed to take them on respite for a week to see if this was something we could consider and if the children would like us too. FCA are very thoughtful about the matching process I feel as they don't want placements to break down. Well after this week we fell in love with the children and definitely wanted them to come to us long term so FCA made the arrangements and in September they came to us. They have changed our lives. Don't get me wrong there are days when its challenging and hard work and we're exhausted at the end of the day but wow what an amazing time we are also having. Its so rewarding and special and at the moment we are working hard with their schools to try and make improvements for them as they have only been in education for about a year and learning the language so things are difficult for them, so we want to help make a difference where we can. FCA also offer lots of help and support and we can call on Sharon our Supervising Social Worker in the Doncaster team anytime for advice. We see that Mel and her team are all so heavily invested in making a difference and they really care about the children. We have just recently attended their Oscars event which the Participation team organised and it was wonderful and they arrange so many events throughout the year and support sessions which is really great. We feel very lucky to now have these children in our lives and will work really hard to give them as many opportunities as we can. We highly recommend this agency to anyone considering fostering as it has truly changed our lives for the better!"