Front door appears on Anglesey beach to encourage people across Wales to open their homes to foster children

Several life-size front doors have been unveiled across Wales this week, including on Anglesey to encourage people across Wales to open their doors and homes to foster children.

Foster Wales are actively inviting the public to consider opening their homes to help accommodate the number of children in Wales who need care and support.

Foster Wales is working towards increasing the number of foster carers in Local Authorities across Wales to help keep children in their local area, when that is right for them, which contributes to the national impact on the futures of young people.  

At the close of March 2020, Welsh Government statistics revealed that 84 per cent of children living with foster families were still able to live in their own area, maintaining familiarity with the community they already knew.

Foster Wales’ aims to encourage those who are thinking of fostering to do so in their local authority so that important relationships, which can help children thrive, can be encouraged.

Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan said, “Foster carers in Wales have told me countless times about how rewarding the experience of looking after a child can be. I encourage anyone who can open their home, so that those children who need our help can live happier childhoods and grow up into the people they want to be.”

The unveiling of life-sized front doors across Wales represents the combined national goal of working together to help build better futures for children in Wales.

Gwynfor and Barbara, foster carers on Anglesey said: “Fostering has made a positive difference to our lives and the lives of the children that we have cared for and supported”

“We’d discussed for a while about fostering as we felt we could provide children with a positive environment to thrive. As our children had all grown up, we had the space and time to provide for a foster child who needed our support.”

They added, “The reason we foster is simple – it’s for the children. Fostering is unbelievably rewarding and I would encourage those thinking about becoming a foster carer – to just do it, you will not regret it!”

“It’s so nice to be able to give children the platform they deserve to develop. The positive experiences we’ve had with our foster children will be treasured by ourselves and them forever. The support we’ve received from Anglesey Council has been fantastic. They provide a whole package of support and we feel recognised and valued being part of the Foster Wales Anglesey Team.”

Foster Wales is encouraging more people like Gwynfor and Barbara to open up their homes to help promote better futures for local children in need.

This week’s event follows the recent launch of a wider Foster Wales campaign which aims to make a substantial national impact on the futures of young people in Wales.