Please help our parents continue to foster.
Our parents are foster carers for our local authority & have been lucky enough to care for 27 children & young people in the last 13 years, alongside bringing up us, our 2 siblings, plus helping to care for their 11 grandchildren & childminding.
Mum & Dad live in a lovely family home which they have always had a secure long term tenancy for from a local Estate. They’ve lived there for over 21 years & had no plans to move or more importantly stop fostering in the near future.
Unfortunately they have been informed that the Estate are restructuring their business & have decided to sell off some of their properties, including their home! This has come as a huge shock to us all. They have been offered the chance to buy the property before it goes on the open market but have also been given their notice & if they are unable to secure funding to purchase it will have to move out in the next 2 months!
To say we are all devastated is an understatement, this has been such a loving, happy family home for as long as we can all remember. We are all so worried about the emotional effect this will have on the children they foster & also if they are going to be able to continue to foster children in the future.
At present Mum & Dad are supporting 2 young people, but in the past few months, have also cared for 3 others. You never quite know who or how many will arrive! A lot of these children have had very troubled pasts & need a lot of support & a safe, stable home environment to help them try to recover from their past traumas. Something our parents are so very good at providing.
We worry that them having to move house will have a detrimental emotional effect on the children they presently support long term & jeopardise the emotional security they have tried so hard to give them, but also prevent our parents from continuing being able to foster in the future if they have to move to a smaller/unsuitable property.
They’ve tried their upmost to see if it is possible to obtain a mortgage to fund purchasing the house. The Estate have valued it at a purchase price of £425,000 and with Mum & Dad being aged 60 & 62 this amount is proving unattainable to fund! They are able to raise approx a quarter of the price but we need to help them raise the rest. If we can’t raise enough to keep the family home we will help them to find a suitable home that allows them to continue fostering.
Mum & Dad are obviously desperate to be able to continuing offering the children they care for as safe, stable & secure environment as they can, & to be able to continue caring for others in the future.
Whilst renting elsewhere could be option, they are struggling to find another suitably sized property in our local area, at a price they can afford, which would then enable them to carry on fostering.
We want to do anything to help Mum & Dad stay in our family home, we’ve exhausted all options and we’re hoping that the fact that we are making this request, shows just how much they mean to us & that comes before any pride we may have about doing this.
We know it sounds a lot, & it is! But every single penny will help them continue to help vulnerable children. If you can give any amount, however small it would mean the world to our family & the children they care for. If you are a business looking for an investment please please get in touch!
Thank you so so much,
Jen & Meg.
