Linda and Steven’s story
Linda and Steven have been caring for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) for over six years and live in rural Worcestershire.
They have been foster carers for 15 years and in the past have cared for adolescent girls, large sibling groups and mother and baby placements. Both Linda and Steven found their first placement of supporting a 15 year old boy from Afghanistan to be the most rewarding.
Linda said “The lad was clearly upset when he came to us and as he spoke no English it was difficult to help him at first. With the right support from Priory Fostering Services, he soon became part of the family and we eventually got him into school and then college. We helped him get his first job and moved him on to his flat when he turned 18. After that experience we decided to specialise in caring for asylum seekers and have never looked back.”
Steven is equally positive and has found shared interests in football useful in breaking down language barriers. “Football has been a shared passion for most of our asylum seeking boys. It has been great fun watching our village team play on a Sunday morning and has certainly helped the children to settle in.”
Linda and Steven currently have two UASC children placed with them. Both young people are fully integrated into the family and the local community. They play football with their local team, they both recently learned to drive, one has a full time job with a local housing association and the other is at college as part of a modern engineering apprenticeship.
Interested in fostering?
If you are considering becoming a foster carer, we would love to hear from you. For more information, please call us on: 01684 560 333 or email fostering@aspriscs.co.uk