Our Journey Into Parent and Child Fostering

Cynthia & Keith are Parent and Child foster carers with Calon Cymru. With Keith working away most of the week, Cynthia is the main carer, welcoming new families into her home.

We spoke with Cynthia to find out more about her experience before fostering, and why she chose to commit to a new career as a Parent and Child foster carer. Fostering was something Cynthia had thought about for years, but felt a calling towards specialising in Parent and Child:

“I saw the advert for Parent and Child fostering and kept going back to it as it seemed interesting and different to fostering as I knew it to be. I wanted to offer support to new parents during the crucial time of parenthood, whilst also achieving job satisfaction.”

At Calon Cymru, our Parent and Child foster carers have a variety of life experiences that they draw on daily in their role, and this is no different for Cynthia. Every foster carer brings something unique, and Cynthia’s experience before fostering was vast.

“I’d previously worked in different social care settings. Some of my professional working life was spent working with children and families within social services, so I was well aware of how difficult bringing a new child into the world can be for some. I would also say that combining my skills from my career in social care, alongside being a mother of 7 and grandmother of 16 has prepared me for being a foster carer specialising in looking after a parent and their child.”

Although Cynthia and Keith are relatively new to fostering, they have already made lots of memories, with Cynthia noting her favourite thing about her role being watching a new mum bond with her baby, whilst developing her parenting skills and becoming a caring mum.

At Calon Cymru, we are proud of our diverse training programme and the high level of support we provide to our foster carers. Additional to our core training, we offer tailored training, including training that has been specifically developed for our Parent and Child foster carers, such as training on the public law outline process, substance misuse, and perinatal mental health.

“Since joining Calon Cymru, we have been offered various training. We’ve also received amazing support. I would say it has been immense, particularly from the Parent and Child Service Manager, Louise Rees.”

Parent and Child fostering is unique. If you are interested in finding out more, please do not hesitate to get in touch, and we will be more than happy to advise you on the next steps.

“I’d most definitely recommend becoming a Parent and Child foster carer. My advice to anyone starting out on this journey is to bring a non-judgemental attitude and to have bags of patience. Everyone is learning!”