Crystal & Katie’s Story

Crystal and Katie began their fostering journey 3 years ago and haven’t looked back since.

Crystal explains: “Being a foster carer isn’t always easy but when you see a child improve at something you’ve helped them with, it makes it all worthwhile. And when you actually begin to see them listening to your advice you feel you’re moving forward.”

The couple became official civil partners in 2006 and they enjoy a happy and active home life with their four cats. “Being a same sex couple we’re still in the minority and it isn’t always easy; we have to be prepared for what other people’s preconceived ideas are of us before they’ve even met us and that can be tricky.”

Katie explains that training and support has helped keep them on track: “FCA Scotland is a great agency to work with and the many training sessions we’ve attended have helped to improve our fostering skills and understanding of the emotional or behavioural problems foster children can sometimes display. We also attend local foster carer support groups and we meet up regularly with other carers to share experiences and chat about our day to day lives as foster carers.”

“Anyone who is considering becoming a foster carer needs to have bags of patience. It can be a long path before it gets easier, but it does.”

Katie concludes: “As foster carers we aim to provide a safe and happy home environment for foster children and it is that level of stability which is so important to a child’s wellbeing. At FCA Scotland the aim is to deliver quality care in a family setting and that is exactly what we intend to do.”