Tina and Ashley's Story

• Fostering Stories
• Tags: Fostering babies

Tina and Ashley have fostered babies and toddlers since 2018.

They adopted their daughters prior to becoming foster carers and were inspired by the couple who had fostered their daughters.

They shared why fostering holds a big place in their hearts...

What are your hopes for the children you foster?

Our hopes and dreams for all of the children we have fostered is for them to be part of a secure, loving and stable family and be able to experience a regular childhood like every other child and to feel a sense of belonging.

We also hope for them to be able to build secure attachments and therefore be able to cope with moving on to their forever family, being able to continue to build secure attachments and relationships.

What have been the highlights so far?

One of our foster babies was with us from birth and returned to his birth mum at two and half years old. Seeing his mum work hard during this time and finally get her son back was one of the most beautiful things for us. Seeing her progress and knowing that one day her son will find out how much she fought for him and now he will get to grow up and be part of his siblings and extended families’ lives.

We now have a few foster babies spread out across the UK and they feel like part of our extended family and I know they will always be a part of our life. We also love the baby snuggles of course! Fostering comes with its challenges and isn’t all smooth sailing but the rewarding feeling you get far outweighs anything else!

What is your reward?

Seeing the babies we have cared for get their ‘forever’ home is the most heart-warming experience. Some babies have moved on to be adopted, and some have returned to birth parents.  All experiences have been perfect for each individual child. We have stayed in close contact with all of our foster babies and this gives us hope that we will always be part of their lives.  Our foster babies mean the world to us and always will.