Ceremony for local foster carers
On Wednesday 1st February, Stirling Council will be hosting an awardsceremony in the Council chambers in recognition of the invaluable worklocal foster carers do throughout the area.
Many of the foster carers have been working for more than 20 years with the council and have raised many children, offering them a stable home with a loving family.
Stirling Council offer a range of fostering options for people who are interested in becoming a foster carer. These range from temporary foster carers who provide respite a few weekends a month to full time foster carers. There are also long term foster carers. The needs of the child and
the foster carer are paramount, so demand for different types of foster carer are always changing.
The awards ceremony will be attended by Chief Executive Bob Jack, Leader of the
Council Graham Houston and Provost Fergus Wood. Certificates will be presented to the carers who have been working with the service for a number of years.
Alison White has been doing emergency and respite foster care for 22 years. She says, 'When I started I'd seen children who were ill
struggle to get back on their feet and thought " I could put something back into this" - and I have. One little girl I looked after had cerebral palsy. She couldn't walk and took her first steps in my house - she's now 24. 'When I look after children with special needs in respite care, it gives the whole
family a break. My priority is to make children feel safe and reassure parents that they are safe and being looked after well, and we also want them to be able to go back to their birth families.'
Jock Smith, who has been a foster carer with his wife Carol for 21 years, adds: 'Carol wanted
to be at home with our four children and was thinking about the type of job that would let her do that - foster caring made it possible. It is a job, but it's one that has great personal benefits. We usually look after teenagers so they can be challenging, but one boy we fostered recently moved into
independent living and it all went to plan so we were really pleased.'
Photo shows: Foster Carers Alison White and Jock Smith.
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