“What a lovely way to bring some life to your home, it’s rewarding and is definitely keeping me young(er).” Tracey’s Respite Experience
Tracey is a respite foster parent, which involves looking after a young person whilst their foster family takes a break to attend to personal matters or appointments. Tracey says that for most children, respite feels like a bit of a holiday and the children love coming to her home. Children usually stay with a respite family for a weekend, a week or 2 weeks.
Tracey’s journey into fostering
Tracey worked for a financial institution for 30 years, working her way up from a ‘Saturday girl’ to a senior manager, loving every moment of her career. However, when COVID came her mindset changed and she thought it was time to retire. After six months of retirement, she realised she missed being part of a team.
She got into fostering after enjoying looking after a neighbour’s children whilst they went away. She couldn’t wait to do it again. Her neighbour, who already fostered with us at Flourish, suggested Tracey should look into fostering. This turned out to be the perfect suggestion for Tracey. She said:
“It’s really nice to feel part of a company again and to feel valued.”
Why did she choose respite fostering
Tracey chose to do respite because of her and her partner’s ages. She says “what we didn’t want to do is take on a child and then be too old to see them through the time they needed from us. I didn’t want to have to let anyone go because I couldn’t cope so that’s why we started off respite.” However, after providing respite care for 18 months, she met a young girl who “just fit” she said “there was absolutely no way we were going to let her go so we’ve managed to keep her, she’s been with us for 6 months now. She is twelve and I know I have got a good 10 years left in me. I feel younger now than I did before I started doing respite.”
Despite now pursuing long-term fostering, she continues to keep one bedroom spare to be able to offer respite care, saying:
“We honestly have so much fun. Respite is all about welcoming a child into your home and trying to make it seem like a holiday to them.”
The fun of fostering
One of the things Tracey most loves about fostering is how much fun both her and the children who visit her have. She says: “It’s not just fun for the children, it’s fun for me. I can honestly say I feel ten years younger now than I did before respite care. It has also helped my transition from my old job to here. Going from a full-on, organised, managerial role and now I have to be organised here but it’s about making sure I get the washing and ironing done and plan the menu for the week. Everything has to be planned and it keeps the energy in me.”
“It’s not just fun for the children, it’s fun for me.”
Respite Foster Parents are always needed. If you would like more information about respite fostering, get in touch with us today.
